Hyperdrive
by FullMetal Alchemistress
Summary: What if Yusei had a little sister? How would events change throughout the story? Summary subject to change. YuseiAki JackCarly
1. On Your Mark Get Set DUEL

**So guess what I've been watching lately? I looked up the release date for the new Yugioh movie but could only find that it's due to come out in theaters in the spring of 2011. So, excited for that, I decided I should probably watch 5D's so that I knew more about everyone who's supposed to be in that movie. I REALLY liked that Yusei and Judai are complete freaking opposites. It just made me so freaking happy. I don't like when main characters of spin-off series are the same. It's boring.**

**Anyways,**

**THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE READING:**

**1. I watched this in English with the exception of episode 35 and 36 which I watched subbed because "dieing of severe bruising" just don't fly with me…Otherwise I'm too lazy to do subs.**

**2. Therefore I'm using the DUB names.**

**3. There was a 3 but I forgot…blah…**

**Chapter 1: On Your Mark, Get Set, DUEL!**

A girl sat on the cement floor of an old subway tunnel, typing away on an old laptop. She brushed her black hair over her shoulders as she watched the colored speed bar waver a bit. "That's concerning," she muttered to herself, adjusting a few things on the computer.

"What's concerning?" Blitz called over to her.

"_And Jack Atlas's unbeaten streak continues!" _she heard an announcer report from the television set sitting in front of the other three guys.

"What's concerning is," she began to respond, slightly distracted by the computer. "Is that you should shut that off before Yusei—"

Before she could finish, she spotted Yusei pushing his duel runner towards them.

"_Let's get this straight! It's not the power of the runner, it's the rider! I'll take on any_one _on any _ride _and I'll still be victorious!"_

Yusei looked up at that and glanced over at the girl. She offered a small comforting smile, but kept silent. Those three could watch whatever they wanted. She wasn't going to tell them what to do—not that they would listen to her. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, motionless, as she thought. That should have been Yusei, not Jack. It should have been her brother who was on that TV, not the traitor…

Yusei revved the engine on the runner and gained everyone's attention.

"Oh, hey Yusei," Blitz called, shutting off the television.

"Sorry about that. We would have watched the duel somewhere else, Yus, honest. But the cable we rigged couldn't stretch any further," Tank chimed in.

Yusei plugged his own laptop up to his runner and the girl moved to sit on the ground closer to him.

"Sorry," Nervin said.

"Only one person should be sorry," Yusei assured him.

"Right," Blitz agreed. "Jack still owes you for what he did."

"Got that right," Yusei muttered, not looking up from adjusting the runner.

"So where have you been, Yus?" Tank asked.

"The tunnels," he responded, "testing a new acceleration chip."

"It's getting better," she commented quietly, pulling up some data she had collected. "It's still not fast enough, though."

"I know, Keisa. This chip isn't working out like I'd hoped."

"Yusei!" someone called into the tunnel.

"In here, Rally," Blitz yelled.

"What's up little buddy?" Tank asked when the little red-haired boy came into view.

"Wait till you see what I got for Yusei!"

"Why do I have a really bad feeling about this?" Keisa mumbled, closing her laptop with a sigh.

"Check it out!" Rally said excitedly, rummaging in his pocket for something. He pulled out a small black square and thrust it toward Yusei. "A Skylon 30 Acceleration chip!"

"That's a Skylon? Aren't those incredibly expensive?" Nervin asked as everyone crowded around Yusei and Rally.

"Yeah," Keisa mumbled suspiciously.

"It' looks like it's never been used," Blitz commented after pulling Rally's hand towards his face. "Don't tell me you stole this!"

"I didn't steal nothing!" Rally jerked his arm back. "It was just sitting on the ground in broad daylight. Maybe someone dropped it."

"Then someone's gonna be looking for it, Rally," Keisa scolded.

"You know how things are around here—no one just leaves things lying around," Tank agreed.

"If _they _saw you, they'd track us down and mark us all." Nervin poked Rally's mark gently with his finger to prove his point.

"Easy, Nervin." Yusei stood up. "Rally, let me see that. This is just what I needed." He turned towards his runner to install the chip.

"Will it make you faster?" Rally exclaimed.

"Absolutely."

"Well then, maybe he shouldn't return it," Tank mused.

"Tank!" Blitz snapped.

"Yusei, this is a bad idea." Keisa crouched down next to him and watched as he placed the chip on the machine. "Nothing good is going to come from using stolen equipment. It could be a trap—a set up. No one just leaves something like that lying around."

"We know how you feel, Yus, be I think it's time you bury the past, move on, and forget about Jack Atlas," Nervin suggested.

Keisa stood up abruptly.

"But Jack also took Yusei's best card, remember?" Rally defended.

Keisa took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to forget the surfacing memories of a dejected Yusei retuning home with no duel runner, and a card missing from his deck. No. She refused to remember. She refused to think of the smile he'd forced on his face for the sakes of everyone else, refused to think of the sadness in his eyes that, over time, turned into determination. Sure, what had happened had only made him more motivated to get them all out of the satellite, but there was still something there. The fact that his best friend, someone he trusted a lot, turned their back on him. It was the second time a best friend had left him.

"Yeah, and do _you _remember, Jack's over there in the city. And the people over there don't take too kindly with people from the satellite."

"Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself," Keisa grumbled. There was nothing she could do. Yusei would use the chip, stolen or not. The only thing she could do was help him when he got caught.

"Yusei, us satellites should just stay put," Nervin suggested.

"Jack didn't stay, so why should I?"

"Let him go. Don't risk yourself for some wheels and a card." Blitz shrugged. "I think Nerv's right. It's time to the past in the past."

An alarming sound emanated from the runner interrupting their conversation and Yusei stood up to rev the engine. The sound of the runner echoed loudly down the tunnels and everyone was struck with awe.

"Wow, now that's what I call power!" Rally commented. Yusei nodded in agreement. "Take it out for a spin!" He picked up Yusei's helmet. "Let's see what it can do."

"Yusei," Keisa said in a warning tone. He glanced at her and followed her gave up through the cracks in the ceiling. "I think you're about to find out what it can do!"

Just then, lights filtered through the cracks and illuminated their hideout. Fear flooded through Keisa's body. It _was _a trap. They were all going to get caught and be sent to the facility. It was over. She'd never see Yusei again; she'd never see the guys. They'd be split up for a long time if not forever. Her blood turned to ice as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light and she recognized the sector police hovering above them. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening.

"It's sector security." Her voice shook even in a whisper. A hand fell on her shoulder and she jumped, turning to see Yusei behind her, looking at the lights above them.

"Identification number AWX8607," a voice called. "You are in possession of stolen property. Escape is not an option. You're surrounded."

Everyone looked at Rally, who shrunk into himself in shame.

"It's gonna be alright," Yusei said sternly.

"So what should we do?" Blitz asked.

"There's nothing we _can _do," Tank grumbled. "That mark is like a homing device for security!"

Rally brushed the yellow triangle on his cheek with his fingers and Keisa pulled him to her comfortingly.

"I've got that covered," Yusei called from his laptop. He turned around and hopped on his runner, taking his helmet from Rally. "I bought you guys a couple of minutes."

"Where do you think you're going?" Keisa snapped.

"You guys take the east tunnel," Yusei ordered, his visor sliding down over his eyes. "I'm gonna take this chip for a test drive."

"What? Yusei!" Keisa cried. The others ran down the tunnel but Keisa remained.

"Go," he ordered again. "Keisa, go. You'll be safe, I promise. They'll come after me."

"That's the problem!" she snapped. "What if you get caught? You'll—"

"Be fine," he finished.

She sighed and threw her arms around him. "Be safe, big brother." She turned around and headed in a different direction from the guys.

"Hey, where are you going?" he called after her.

"Unusable or not, I'm not leaving my duel runner down here where sector security can take it. I'll be careful, I promise," she yelled back over her shoulder.

"It's not worth getting sent to the facility over!" But she just shakes her head and continues running down the tunnel. He sighed and revved the engine, taking off down the tunnel after her.

"Be careful," he told her as he passed.

"You, too!"

Keisa refused to cry as she ran. She told herself over and over that he wouldn't get caught. But he had before. Once, about six months after Jack had left. They were trying to get parts for a new duel runner. But they had taken stuff from the wrong part of the satellite. Keisa was just thankful that he had been able to slip her his cards before they took him. Who knows what would have happened if they'd found duel cards on him.

She ran down a few hallways and pushed through a door that said "Staff Only." In the back of the room behind spare runner parts that were either no longer useful to Yusei, or no longer worked, sat what she was here for. She ripped off the sheet that covered it to reveal a runner that was no where near completion. It was a frame and parts, but it lacked wheels and a casing. She started up the screen and found Yusei's runner.

He was in a duel.

With security officer Trudge.

**Review?**


	2. Creepy Crawlies

**Here's chapter 2. Hope you like it. Sorry it took so long. I was writing this up in my notebook, but someone stole all that stuff so I've been pretty much SOL since they also stole my programming text book, my sketchbook, and my bag.**

**Chapter 2: Creepy Crawlies**

It wasn't hard for Yusei to defeat Officer Trudge. Keisa would have only been surprised if he lost. Keisa sighed and shut off her runner, yanking the sheet back over the top of it.

Her footsteps echoed loudly in the tunnel as she shuffled towards where everyone else was held. They were safe. For now. But who knew where they'd be next week, or in a month, or even a year. Life was pretty unpredictable in the Satellite. And Keisa didn't like that. She needed to know things for certain; she didn't like the unknown.

"Everything looks good so far," Keisa muttered, clicking away on her laptop. She tracked the changes on the screen with her eyes skillfully. She couldn't help the part of her that wanted Yusei to stop trying. She couldn't help it. She _knew _how dangerous escaping Satellite would be, but Yusei would go regardless. He had to.

No, another part of her argued, he didn't. He could stay in Satellite with her and their friends. Going out and risking everything he had, risking his partial freedom, was unnecessary.

But again, he would go anyways. The least she could do would be to support him and help him out in any way she could.

She heard the roar of his runner and told Rally to be ready. Yusei flew down the tunnel and then slammed to a stop, his tired screeching in protest. Rally laughed excitedly and ran up to Yusei as he removed his helmet.

"Yusei!" he exclaimed. "That's your best time yet! Do you think it'll be enough to get you to Neo Domino City?"

"It better be," he replied.

"If you keep braking like that you'll ruin your tires," Keisa said quietly without even looking up.

"I'll be fine," he said to Keisa. To Rally, "Time me again." He pulled his helmet back on again, revved the engine and took off down the tunnels again.

Keisa placed her laptop on the ground and stood up, stretching her legs and arms. "I'm going to go get something to eat. He has pretty much maxed his runner out so if it doesn't break down, the results will be pretty much the same."

When she got back, Yusei had finished his run and was now comparing his runner to the results she had collected on the laptop.

"It's doing pretty good with the new chip," Keisa commented, reaching around him to tap a few keys on the keyboard, bringing up a new screen for him to view.

"It's doing better than pretty good," he murmured.

Footsteps drew their attention away from the runner and they watched Blitz, Nervin, and Tank walk in, cut and bruised. Rally gasped at the sight of them. They filed in and sat on the couch one by one. Keisa sighed and encouraged Yusei to keep working. She would go take care of the situation. She retrieved the old first-aid kit that they kept for emergencies.

"All better!" Rally declared.

"Oh really?" Blitz snapped. "Then please explain why it still hurts so much."

"That's a side effect of stupidity, unfortunately." She stood up angrily and placed her hands on her hips. "Just what exactly were you guys doing to come home looking like this?" She sighed and crossed her arms. "On second thought, I don't want to know. If you guys want to go beat yourselves up, it's no concern of mine. You guys are a handful."

"Yeah, and that coming from the girl who fights anyone who looks at her funny," Blitz grumbled.

"Lighten up guys! Today, Yusei maxed out his duel runner!" Rally told them.

"Yeah?" Blitz said, looking towards Yusei. "Like how maxed out?"

"Enough to get out of here," Yusei replied.

Not wanting to hear much more, Keisa turned and headed for her own hidden duel runner.

"Yusei, are you gonna go for it tonight?" Rally asked.

Keisa saw Yusei nod and she picked up the pace a little and all but jogged down the tunnel.

"Does anyone other than me have a bad feeling about this?" Blitz moaned.

Rally glanced towards the direction Keisa just headed to make sure she was no longer within hearing distance before he said, "Keisa is totally against it, not that she'd say anything to Yusei or anybody."

"She is?" Yusei looked up, confused.

"How do you know?" Tank inquired.

"She didn't exactly tell me, but I heard her mutter something to herself while I was timing Yusei earlier."

Yusei returned to his work. "Well, don't worry about it because I have it ll planned out. I think."

In awe, everyone gathered around Yusei and his runner.

"So what's this plan you think _might _work, Yusei?" Tank asked.

"It's _gonna _work, Tank," Rally snapped.

"Well, I hope you're right, Rally," Yusei said confidently. "Because if everything falls into place, Stardust dragon will be mine again." Yusei lowered his head but kept working diligently. "And we'll all be one step closer to leaving the Satellite."

Keisa, having come back to get the laptop, bit her lip and leaned back against the wall around the corner.

"Yuse…are you sure that card is worth the risk?" Blitz asked, his face twisted in deep concern. I mean, you really think that card is gonna make a difference?"

"Of course it would make a difference," Keisa mumbled to herself. "But if the stakes weren't so high…"

"Of course it will!" Tank exclaimed, sounding like Rally in his excitement.

Keisa slid to the ground and ran her hands through her short hair. She remembered the first time they all saw Stardust dragon. It was right after Yusei had built his first runner from spare parts. Everyone had been so pumped, screaming and jumping. But that was before Jack ruined it all. As quick as the excitement and happiness had come, Jack took it all away, leaving despair and dread in its place.

"Well, Yusei's gonna get them back," Rally cheered, breaking Keisa's train of thought. "Because with this new runner, Jack doesn't stand a chance."

"Yeah!" Tank said, pumped up by Rally. "What are we waiting for?"

"Midnight tonight," Yusei replied.

"Why?" Nervin asked, confused. "What's at midnight?"

But Keisa already knew. Because she'd told Yusei about it months ago when he'd wondered aloud if there was a way to get out of the Satellite. She hadn't meant for him to take her seriously. Nor did she think he was serious in asking. And now, she completely regretted ever having said anything. What did it matter anyways, at the time? Why did she have to answer him?

Because he was her brother and she'd do anything for him because she knew he would do the same for her or any of their friends.

"The tiniest of opportunities," Yusei responded, clicking away on his laptop. "Check this out guys. I got the idea from Keisa."

"Keisa?" Nervin questioned.

"See, the only way between Neo Domino City and the Satellite is the sewer pipeline here." A diagram popped up on the screen, demonstrating what Yusei was saying. "The only problem is, it's flooded with trash 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But once a month at midnight, they shut the system down to check the compressor pumps. Then a maintenance hatch is automatically opened, and that's when I'll get my chance to make it through." He pulled the laptop back towards himself and continued working.

"A sewer?" Nervin said disgustedly, standing up straight.

"That sounds a little…far-fetched," Blitz agreed.

"The odors and fumes alone—" Nervin started.

"Remind us of you," a new voice declared.

Keisa stood up and walked into view to see these new strangers. One look at them and she knew they had beat up the others. Silently, she went to go stand by Yusei's side. No way would she miss a good fight.

"How's the healing going?" They asked with a laugh.

Yusei's face grew dark and he glanced back at the guys, then at Keisa, before returning his glare to the thugs.

"Hey, you with the hair! You think you're a tough guy? Because I'll show you what tough is!" One growled.

Keisa bit her lip to keep from shouting out. She had to stop being so impulsive and think things through for once.

Their leader stepped up, cracking his knuckles. "That's a pretty sweet runner you got there."

Blitz stepped up in front of the runner and Keisa moved to join him but Yusei grabbed her arm and held her back.

"The runner's not for sale," Blitz declared.

"Well, if it's not for sale, what about the girl? We'll take her off your hands."

"I'll kick your ass, punk!" she yelled, struggling in Yusei's tight hold.

"Or, you can just give us the runner instead of the shoes we're here to collect."

"Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me," his friend agreed.

"Or would you rather I go top side and tell sector security you're hiding an illegal duel runner down here."

"Why don't I punch your face in?" Keisa snapped.

"Why don't we duel for it?" Yusei said, standing up.

"Heh, duel me? You might as well just hand it over to me now," the leader said cockily. "Especially if you duel like your buddies here fight." His friends laughed. "How's this, I win, and the runner's mine. You win and we'll leave you alone. So?"

"Don't duel him, Yusei," Blitz advised.

"He's just a bully," Nervin agreed.

"And bullies never learn unless you stand up to them," Yusei replied, switching his decks. It was a lesson he had had to teach Keisa when she would get picked on.

"Kick his ass!" Keisa cheered angrily.

"Calm down," Rally told her.

"But what if you lose?" Blitz argued.

Yusei disengaged his duel disk from his runner and turned to look at his friends. "We'll be fine, Blitz."

"Let's duel!" the guy yelled with a laugh, turning away to make room for their duel.

**REVIEW YES?**


	3. Pipe Dreams Part 1

**4KIDS LOST THE RIGHTS TO YUGIOH.**

**That is all.**

**Chapter 3: Pipe Dreams Part 1**

Keisa let out the breath she'd been holding with a smile as Yusei delivered the finishing blow.

"You and your buddies came down here looking to intimidate us," Yusei growled, "threaten us, and push us around. Well next time, you might want to think twice before messing with me and my pals. Because we're gonna stand by each other through thick and thin."

"Yeah!" Rally cheered in agreement. "You tell that Domino City castoff that he better watch his step the next time he comes down here!" Keisa laughed and pulled Rally to her.

"Because we aren't gonna stand for any bullies," Keisa added.

"You fought a good duel," Yusei said, calmer than before. "But my runner's staying put, just like you."

"Yusei won!" Tank exclaimed. "He won!"

"Man, I was so close to winning that runner," The Leader sighed, falling to his knees in defeat.

Keisa let out a laugh. "Right. Sure you were."

"You had me on the ropes there for a while, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get through the duel. But and old friend once told me that when your back's against the wall, and it feels like there's no way out, as long as you trust in the power of your deck then you can find a way out of any situation."

Everyone looked at Yusei. Keisa remembered those words. _Big Brother _Jack…

"That day," Yusei continued, "a very valuable lesson was taught to me. A lesson I'll never forget."

Later that night, Keisa sat at the laptop once again, looking through the data she had recently collected on the runner.

"Staring at the same information over and over won't convince you of anything," Blitz mumbled from the couch.

"Nope," she muttered back, distracted. "But I can definitely try. It makes me feel better. Leave me alone…"

"Speaking of which, where is Yusei?" Tank asked.

"Probably outside thinking," Rally responded.

"Well, it's almost time to roll." Keisa stood up and headed for the tunnels. "I'll be right back." She didn't get very far before she found him standing in the middle of the broken tunnels, looking up through a crack at the night sky.

"Look out, Jack," Yusei murmured. "I'm coming to take back what's mine."

"You make it sound like it's really going to be that easy to get into Neo Domino," Keisa said, standing next to him now.

"I never said it was going to be easy," he admitted.

"You better not get caught. My runner is barely half way done."

"Even if I _do _get caught—"

"Which you can't let happen."

"—the guys would help you with your runner."

"They can't. I'm building my runner with my brother." Keisa smiled up at him.

"Keisa," Yusei sighed, turning to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me carefully."

"Don't I always?" she muttered sarcastically, knowing Yusei was in lecture mode now.

"No," he chuckled. "Keisa, if anything happens to me, I want you to promise to destroy the runners."

"What?"

"If they catch me I don't want them to find you guys, but if they do, I don't want them to have any reason to take you to the center."

Keisa shoved him away.

"No!" she snapped.

"Keisa—"

"No, I won't promise that," she said sternly. "I can promise you that I won't go near it until you come back, but I refuse to destroy it."

Yusei was silent. Keisa just stared right back at her older brother. She didn't want him to go, and she knew he would have second thoughts if she begged him to stay. But she understood why he had to go. She didn't want to hold him back by making him second guess himself, so she stayed silent.

"Kei, I—"

"It's just about time for you to go, isn't it?" She turned to leave the tunnel, jumping when Yusei caught up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She took the opportunity to slip a card from her deck into his turbo deck without him noticing.

"Can't do it without you."

"You've only got one shot at this Yusei," Nervin started as they approached Yusei's runner. "The maintenance hatch opens at midnight, and only stays open for three minutes after that."

"He knows," Rally groaned.

Yusei stopped next to his runner and looked back up through the crack in the ceiling.

"Then they flood that pipeline with garbage," Nervin continued.

"He knows!" Rally said again. "Try being positive for once, Nervin."

Keisa glanced at the clock on his runner as she attempted to get it ready to go. 11:14. Just about 45 minutes.

"I thought I was," Nervin responded.

"Hey Yusei."

Yusei looked over at Blitz. "Can you really do this?"

"A test run is one thing," Nervin agreed, "but the real thing is something else."

"You guys are so negative," Keisa scoffed, picking up her laptop, disconnecting it from the runner, and moving to sit on the edge of the platform.

"Says the girl who's more against this than any of us," Blitz muttered.

"Hey, I may be against it, but I know he can do it!" Keisa objected.

"Yeah, but if Yusei gets caught—" Nervin started again.

"Don't listen to these guys, Yusei," Tank interrupted. "Just, I don't know, hit the gas and don't ever look back

"Almost forgot!" Rally jumped off the platform and ran over to Yusei, a card in his outstretched hand. "Here. For good luck."

"What is it, Rally?" Yusei asked, inspecting the card.

"Turbo Booster!"

"Wasn't that your father's card?"

Rally nodded. "I want you to take it. I just hope it can help you get your Stardust Dragon back from Jack!"

Yusei revved his engine up and put on his helmet, sliding the protective glass down to cover his eyes.

"You gonna be on the monitor?" he called over to Keisa.

She looked up, surprised, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah!" Rally responded for her. "We'll go topside so we can get a clear signal. Now rev it up!"

"And don't slow down for nothing!" Blitz added.

Keisa stood up and jogged over to Yusei. She hugged him tightly. "Be careful and come back safe." She knocked his helmet. "Love you, big brother."

He smiled and nodded once. "Love you, too." He revved the engine one last time, the growl echoing down the tunnels, before squealing tires and racing out.


	4. Pipe Dreams Part 2

**So, I have 2 more chapters written ahead of time. Because I'm masochistic like that. I'm hoping it'll help make updates more regular.**

**ALSO: I've joined the world of tumblr. My username is rabidxtoaster, so follow me on there to get updates and stuff :D**

**Chapter 4: Pipe Dreams Part 2**

"The hatch opens in four minutes," Blitz announced as they ran. "Let's book it."

"Wait up," Tank puffed.

Keisa narrowed her eyes and ran up the stairs three at a time. She flew up a ladder and tore across the roof, stopping herself with the railing. She squinted and stared down at the streets, hoping to see him.

"Can you see him?" Rally asked Blitz, who had taken out binoculars.

Unable to see even a speck, Keisa sat down and pulled out the laptop.

"There he goes!" Blitz exclaimed.

"We've got a clear signal on the monitor," Keisa muttered, pulling up a GPS map and several video feeds as fast as she could.

"Looks like he's approaching the sewage plant," Nervin commented over her shoulder.

The feed from the duel runner shook violently and Keisa began furiously typing away.

"What are you doing?" Rally asked. "What just happened?"

"I dunno. I'm trying to establish a com link between us and Yusei."

A view of metal gates and the sewage plant approached the duel runner. Keisa's blood ran cold as she thought he was going to plow into the gates. They were like the other gates around the city. Most likely they would bend but not break. She let out a breath, though, when the bike lifted and jumped right over the gates.

"So far so good," Blitz mumbled.

Keisa kept trying to create a com link.

"Great. Sector Security is closing in on him," Nervin stated.

"Let's see." Keisa clicked away and a few more blips showed up on the GPS map, these ones green as opposed to Yusei's red one. Nervin was right. They were surrounding him. "Dammit, Trudge."

"Him again?" Tank groaned.

Something flashed across the screen and Keisa gasped. "What? How?"

"What's wrong?" Blitz asked.

"Trudge is forcing him to turbo duel somehow. He just overrode the runner." She began to type furiously again. "Come _on_ com link! Work for me…"

"There's not time to duel!" Rally mumbled.

"_...only way to break…beat me. And now...pursuit deck is made of._"

"Yes," Keisa sighed. "Com link established."

"Come on, Yusei," Nervin mumbled.

"_Guys?" _

"Yusei!" Rally cried.

"You don't have any time to duel," Keisa said quickly.

"_Don't I know it," _he responded.

"You focus on the duel, I've got everything else."

"_I'm in!" _

"Awesome," Keisa mumbled distractedly. "It's a straight shot, so you won't be able to shake him."

She continued to search the pipe line as Yusei talked with Trudge, who was heckling him.

"You have 2 minutes and eight miles of pipe to go."

"We did six test runs, "Rally said.

"Yusei knows what he's doing," Tank agreed.

"Security wasn't harassing him on those test runs," Keisa said gravely.

"By this point he was so much closer to the goal," Blitz added.

"…_to synchro-summon Junk Warrior!"_

Keisa smiled and sighed in relief. Her brother had this. Or so she thought. Until Trudge summoned a tuner monster.

"Minute and a half," she announced.

"Now Yuse'll never clear the hatch!" Tank cried.

Keisa tried to ignore the duel. No use getting worried when she knew he'd pull through. Somehow.

Yusei regained speed counters and sped up. But she still didn't know if it would be enough. He was behind now. And the duel wasn't even over yet.

"Come on Yuse! 35 seconds!" Tank cheered.

"Just slip through the side hatch!" Nervin added.

"_That die hatch," _Trudge said in disbelief. _"You're planning on using that to escape!"_

"Took him long enough," Keisa mumbled with a smile.

"_Guess nothing gets by you." _Yusei responded. _"Well, except me and my duel runner." _

"Don't cheer yet, Yusei. Duel is still going," Keisa reminded him.

"_Well, I'm about to rev things up." _The speed gauge in the bottom corner of the screen increased.

"Yusei just broke 250," Keisa whispered.

"That's faster than the test runs!" Rally yelled.

"I thought you guys said he maxed it out," Blitz said doubtfully.

Keisa clicked away, logging this information. "I guess it's circumstantial…I don't know…"

After a combination of moves that went completely unnoticed by Keisa, the roar of "He won" shook her out of her concentration.

"He won?" she asked, oblivious.

"Yeah!" Rally laughed.

"Too bad he couldn't stop the clock," Keisa commented, the timer hitting zero. "Yusei, the hath is gonna close!"

"Rev it up, Yuse!" Rally called.

"Shit, shit, shit," Keisa mumbled, seeing the trash begin to fill the tunnel. The runner slid sideways and all the feeds when black. "No!" Keisa began to try and revive the feeds.

"Yusei? What happened?" Tank asked.

"I don't know," Keisa said, her voice shaking.

"He made it through the hatch, I jut know he did!" Rally said hopefully.

Keisa wished she could be that hopeful, that positive, that naïve. But the chances that Yusei made it were slim. She worked restlessly in an attempt to revive _something_. The video feeds, the GPS tracker, _anything._ Hard work paid off when a little red dot appeared on the GPS.

"Yusei!" Blitz said.

"He made it," Keisa sighed, smiling. Everyone around her cheered and high fived. Her brother was safely in Neo Domino City. For now.

"You okay?" Keisa asked, having revived the com link.

"_Yeah," _came the quiet reply of her brother. _"I'm fine."_

"_Yusei!" _Another voice called out from Yusei's end.

"Jack?" Keisa gasped.

"_I'll contact you later, Keisa."_

"Yusei, don't—" But it was too late. Yusei cut the com link off.

"It's okay, Keisa," Blitz murmured, offering a hand to help her up. "He's okay. We know that. Our mission was to help him get to Neo Domino City safely. Mission accomplished."

Smiling, she took his hand and stood up. "Now what?"

"Now," Tank yawned. "We go to bed and hope for the best."

**Read and review and don't forget to check out my tumblr. Rabidxtoaster dot tumblr dot com :P**


	5. Between the Lines Part 1

**So I've been obsessed with DC comics lately. The obsession went from Smallville, to Batman, to Smallville again, then to Green Arrow, now it's a tie between season 9 of Smallville and Speedy/Roy Harper. **

**They killed Roy's daughter. So, in my angry/sad state, I must update.**

**Chapter 5: Between the Lines Part 1**

Keisa sat in front of her unfinished runner, fiddling with a few spare parts, unable to sit still. She dropped The part in her shaky hands, sighed, and picked it up one more time. But her hands were so unsteady, she couldn't work properly. In a fit of anger, she threw the part at the wall.

"Hey, don't break it," Blitz mumbled, walking into the room and retrieving the part. "You're lucky it didn't bend!" He looked at the nice dent in the wall. "Can't say the same for the wall."

Keisa let out a breath and ran her hands through her hair. She couldn't concentrate. She wanted to finish the runner so bad. It was so close to being ride-able, but she just couldn't concentrate anymore.

"He's been gone for _months, _Blitz," she growled, standing up and yanking the sheet back over her duel runner. "Something went wrong."

"You just figure that out?" She gave him a flat look and he held up his hands in a "don't shoot" manner. "There's not much we can do from here."

Keisa began to nod and then shook her head vigorously. "No, maybe there is something I can do!" More confident, she ran over and flipped up the laptop.

"Yeah? And what's that?" Blitz asked suspiciously, shoving his hands in his pocket.

She turned to look at him, eyes alight with newfound excitement. "What if I can hack into Sector Security systems and see if I can find anything. Maybe they'll have files on Satellites admitted to the facility!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea…"

"Why not?"

"What if they track the hack back to us?" he argued. "We could all end up in the facility."

"But we won't. It's not like I'm going to be mass downloading their files. I just want to search through them." He just stared at her long and hard.

"Yuse would never forgive me if I let you get sent to the facility."

"They won't even know I'm there," she said softly. "Please. I'll go do it from the other side of the Satellite."

"Alright, but I'm going with you."

"Alright, we're in," Keisa announced. They had set up shop in an abandoned warehouse far from where the rest of their friends were.

"That was quick," Blitz muttered.

"Hey, I'm a pro computer programmer." Her eyes scanned a list of files and dates, eyes narrowing when she reached one that stood out. "There's a video log here. Shortly after midnight the day Yusei left. At the Kaiba Dome."

"You think that's him?" Blitz asked excitedly.

"Well, we're about to find out," she mumbled, clacking away on her keyboard.

Suddenly a video popped up. There, unharmed, was her brother dueling Jack. Silently, they both watched the duel until a bright red dragon appeared above the arena a half a second before the screen went blank.

"What was that?" Blitz whispered.

Keisa typed furiously. "I think we lost the signal. Which means we weren't kicked out. Chances are they never knew we were there."

"Right," Blitz stood up and began packing things up. "Let's get away from here, quick."

She nodded, happy to know her brother had been safe when he got there, but the fact that he was still not back was not good news at all.

"Guys!" Keisa yelled down the tunnel as she ran. While working on her own runner, she had received bits of information from Yusei's runner for the first time in months. This meant that Yusei had turned his runner on. It meant he wasn't in the facility.

"Keisa, run!" she heard Rally yell. She stopped running, stumbling forward as her brain registered what was happening.

"Get out of here!" Blitz screamed to her.

Sector Security had surrounded her friends. She needed to contact Yusei. She didn't know what to do. She turned to run but ran right into a Security guard.

"No!" She yelled, kicking and hitting him. "Let me go!"

"You guys aren't going anywhere," one grunt said with a grin, leading them out of the tunnels.

"You've been requested by the hire-ups," another chirped.

"Yeah? Well, I'll kick your ass right now, let's go!" Keisa snapped, being shoved carelessly towards a car.

"It's no use," Nervin sighed.

"It was only a matter of time without Yusei here," Tank agreed.

As they jammed them all into separate cars, Keisa managed to kick her captor in the knee cap earning her a satisfying hiss before he slammed the door shut.

"Let's duel!" Tanner and Yusei announced, only to be interrupted by the roar of a duel runner pulling up. None other than Jack Atlas stepped off and removed his helmet.

"Hey, Jack," Yusei said flatly, knowing nothing good could come of his arrival.

"Uh oh, why is Jack Atlas here?" Yanagi said shakily.

"Lessons?" Blister responded.

Jack glanced back at them. "Careful."

"What brings you here, Jack?" Yusei asked, getting right to the point. He gasped when Jack pulled out Stardust Dragon.

"I heard you'll be at the Fortune Cup," he announced.

"Word gets around fast."

"I got a deal for you, Yusei. For your Stardust Dragon." Yusei eyed Jack angrily. "You added to your deck. You win, you keep it. I win, you don't, and then you and me are straight, right?"

"Straight? What about my sister and my friends?" Yusei snapped.

"What? What are you talking about?" Jack said, offended. "I didn't say anything about Keisa or—"

Yusei held up the picture that was given to him. "Your pal Lazar stopped by. And if I don't duel, _they _pay."

"What?" Jack gasped.

"Surprised, Jack?" Yusei asked. "Well don't be. I know Goodwin's behind all of this. And he's gonna regret putting my friends…" Yusei paused and put the picture back in his pocket. "…and putting my sister in harms way."

"You'll definitely need your Stardust Dragon now, won't you?" Jack passed Yusei his card. "And just so we're clear, I don't know anything about this threat, got it? You know I'd never harm Keisa. I duel for me. Goodwin has got his own agenda."

**Sorry if it was a bit choppy. I have fanart of Keisa! :D**


	6. Between the Lines Part 2

**Don't forget to follow my tumblr (under the user rabidxtoaster) to see ahead of time when I plan to update.**

**Chapter 6: Between the lines part 2**

Nervin slammed his body into the metal door again. "Come on!" he puffed. "Open up!"

"Knock it off, Nervin," Tank advised from the corner next to Rally. "It's not gonna budge."

"Hey! Come on!" Nervin yelled. "Let us out of here already!" He turned around angrily. "Any of your guys see who those thugs were?"

"They weren't Sector Security, that's for sure," Keisa mumbled.

"I wish they'd feed us," Rally groaned. "Or at the very least, tell us what we're doing in here."

"We'll be okay," Keisa encouraged quietly, nudging him with her foot. "They can't keep us here forever."

"Yeah?" Blitz crossed his arms and leaned against the wall across from her. "How do you figure that?"

"They must have something on Yusei," she said. "Before we were taken, my laptop was receiving information from Yusei's runner."

"Which means…" Nervin prompted.

"Which _means _that he's not in the facility!" Blitz finished with renewed hope. Keisa simply nodded.

"But what does that have to do with us?" Rally questioned.

"They need something to hold over Yusei," Tank concluded.

There was a click at the door and everyone looked up. With a slight smile, Rally ran for the door and pressed his whole weight on it. It opened a crack. Nervin jumped up and helped him push it all the way open.

"Anybody know where we are?" Rally asked.

They emerged from a metal containment unit and ended up in some sort of trash heap.

"_The time has come!"_

"Hey," Nervin muttered. "Look at that." They all hovered around a small TV broadcasting the Fortune Cup.

"_The Satellite's own Yusei Fudo has won the chance to take on Jack Atlas!"_

"Just what the hell is Yusei doing over there?" Keisa snapped. The camera zoomed in on a hologram displaying a picture of both Jack and Yusei.

"Yusei is dueling Jack?" Tank gasped.

"When did this happen?" Blitz commented.

"Hey, hey," Nervin whispered. "Look at his face."

"They marked him," Rally gasped.

Keisa just stared wide-eyed at the screen. He was in the facility. All that time he was gone, he was in the facility being _marked_. She had been living as comfortably as possible in the Satellite while he was in _that place_. Why hadn't she tried to contact him when she started receiving data from his duel runner to see if he was okay? Why hadn't it even crossed her mind?

"No…I can't…" She stuttered. "He's…"

"He's okay now," Blitz said firmly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "That's all that matters."

"Yeah!" Rally agreed cheerfully. "He's going beat Jack and win back his Stardust Dragon!"

"I sure hope so," Keisa muttered, watching the duel.

Halfway through the duel, though, Keisa's mind had wandered again. She wasn't paying much attention to the duel at all, although her eyes were locked onto the screen, unknowingly following him around the track with her eyes. So many terrible things could have happened to him, and he'd never tell her any of it if it wasn't life or death.

"Hey, isn't that your card, Keisa?" Rally asked, jabbing a finger into her side.

"What?" Sure enough, Yusei had drawn her card—and even played it. "Healing Wave Generator!"

Somehow, this made her feel a little better. A piece of her was still with him, helping him out like a sister should. And even more so, he acknowledged her by playing her card. No doubt she'd get a talking to about tampering his deck without her knowledge, but somehow she knew he'd get over it.

Again, she'd traveled off into her thoughts, only to be pulled back to reality by an outburst from someone nearby.

"Where'd they go?" Tank cried.

"I dunno…" Blitz responded, just as perplexed.

"That's not normal," Keisa sighed. Seconds later they returned to the field, their two dragons stone still.

"Eh, what just happened?" Nervin mumbled.

"Look at Jack's life points!" Rally yelled, tapping his finger to the screen.

Sure enough, there in the background, Jack's picture was faded out next to a life point count of zero.

"Yusei won!"

Everyone began to cheer and celebrate. Keisa couldn't stop staring at the screen. Every television and hologram hanging in the stadium displayed her brother's face. She couldn't help being overwhelmed by a sense of pride. Her brother was the new champion of riding duels. Her brother.

"You okay?" Rally shook her shoulder.

"Yeah! I know he's okay so he can come home whenever he's ready!" She grinned.

"You sure it's safe to have that thing out of the _closet_," Blitz asked lazily from the couch of their hangout.

"I'm sure that _shut up_," she replied. "Yusei had his out all the time. Since he's not here, I might as well take up the space and get my runner running."

"I don't believe it," Rally mumbled from behind the laptop he borrow from Keisa.

"What's up?" Keisa looked over, seeing the look of anger on Rally's face.

"Why would a reporter write an article saying Yusei's not the champ?"

Shrugging, Keisa returned to her work. Tabloids and newspapers would write what they want. She knew what she saw. Or at least, she tried to forget about the parts she didn't. Like when he disappeared for the short amount of time.

"That's a lie!" Tank objected. "Yeah, there was that flash of light and no one really saw what happened but—"

"Tank, stop helping," Blitz snapped. "We all saw Yusei win. He's the one true champ."

"Come on, Blitz," Nervin said. "This is all about class warfare. People don't want some Satellite street trash as their new duel champ."

"Hey, watch what you say about the Satellite trash," Keisa grumbled over her shoulder.

"Good to know Yusei's got such strong supporters," a voice rang out.

Keisa picked up her wrench and turned towards the voice. No way was she going to let anyone be taken captive again.

"Who're you?" Blitz demanded suspiciously.

"A friend. Name's Blister," the man replied, stepping into their hideout. "But if Yusei'd told me about your manners, I might've stayed home."

"Yeah?" Keisa scoffed, crossing her arms. "And why should we believe you? Yusei hasn't so much as contacted me since he left, even though he said he would."

"You must be his sister Keisa." She nodded, starting to believe him a little more. "Well, Yusei finds himself a lot busier than he originally planned.

The grave look on his face struck a chord in her. "What's he doing that's so important? He's in trouble, isn't he?"

"So Goodwin captured your friends, captured Keisa, just to make you duel in a tournament?" Crow asked. Yusei sat with Crow on the end of a broken street, looking at the dilapidated buildings of the Satellite.

"Now I need to make sure they're safe," Yusei nodded. "I can't contact Keisa unless she has a signal on her laptop or her runner and nine times out of ten she doesn't."

"Well then, let's head over to your old hideout."

"Hey Crow, why are the streets so deserted?" Yusei noted.

"Things have gotten weird lately, weirder than usual. These creepy guys are stalking around. Looking for followers. Like right there." Crow pointed to two cloaked figures leading three Satellites somewhere.

"I'm gonna have to look into this. But first, I need to know Keisa and the others are okay."

**And just sayin': Reviews like "Hurry up and update" won't work. I don't mind "Please update soon", but the former is just kind of rude.**


	7. The Reunion Duel

**Yeeaah sorry it's been so long. A LOT has happened since I last updated. Mostly my job which is not taking up 40-50 hours a WEEK—but overtime is SWEET when you're payed 9.25 and hour regularly! But during my downtime I found a dubbed version of the ne YGO movie and DUDE IT WAS AMAZING. Forrealz. I then watched it subbed and thought that version was better. Now I'm in the middle of writing a one-shot Keisa-verse fic centetred around the movie. It'll show more of what Yusei's friends went through and of course Keisa will be there.**

**Anyways, on with the chapter…**

**Chapter 7: The Reunion Duel**

"You hear that?" Blister poked his head out of the hideout and into the tunnel. Nervin and Rally joined him.

"Sector Security?" Keisa jumped up and grabbed the sheet to cover her runner, moving it to a far corner in the dark.

"Yusei!" Rally cried.

Keisa ripped over her gloves and sighed in relief, her beating heart slowing, knowing the threat of danger never existed. She turned towards her brother and threw a glove at him. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry about that," Yusei apologized. "'Quiet' really isn't part of duel runner capabilities."

"Hey!" Keisa spotted the other runner with Yusei and immediately recognized the rider. She ran over and hugged him tight.

"Hey, Keisa," he laughed.

"You came back!" Rally said happily.

"Hey there, Yusei!" Nervin sighed in relief.

"Yusei? Seriously?" Tank and Blitz emerged from further within the hideout to see if it was true.

Yusei pulled off his helmet and dismounted his runner. "Did I miss anything?"

Keisa threw her other glove at him. "You dork!"

"You know," he smiled, "I've been back ten seconds and you've only thrown things at me. I don't even get a hug?" Keisa laughed before tackling him, leaving her arms around him, happy to have her brother back home. "You know, I think I have something that belongs to you." He pulled out her card, Healing Wave Generator.

"Oh, so that's where I put it!" she laughed nervously, taking the card and shoving it back in her deck.

Rally ran over and joined in their hug.

"The craziest thing happened to us last week, Yusei!" Rally exclaimed. "You won't believe it!"

"Well, now that I'm back here in the Satellite, I'm going to set things straight," he announced. "Blister, thanks for helping out with my friends."

"No worries, Yusei."

"So, is this an exclusive party, or can anyone join?" Crow asked, removing his helmet.

"Crow!" Blitz and Tank said in unison.

"I didn't recognize you with the helmet and the runner!" Nervin grinned.

"Yeah," Crow began with a cocky grin, "Yusei's not the only turbo-charged duelist in Satellite anymore, right?"

"_This is Sector Security! ID number AWX-74098, give yourself up!"_

"And he's not the only one with a knack for pissing off Sector Security," Keisa finished, narrowing her eyes.

Crow grinned sheepishly. "Always with the language."

Suddenly a small round silver can bounced down into the hole. Yusei grabbed Keisa's arm and jerked her behind him while everyone covered their faces and a flat gray smoke rushed from the can.

"They're trying to smoke us out?" Rally cried.

"We need to split up," Crow suggested. "Everyone meet at the bridge in two hours. That's where my hideout is."

"_Crow, don't make this difficult. You can't escape this time."_

"This time?" Keisa screeched. "What have you been doing?"

But Crow didn't answer. He mounted his bike, jerked on his helmet, and tore out of the tunnel. Yusei stared after him for a second, allowing a plan to form in his head. He didn't want to risk Crow getting caught by sector security. And he didn't want to leave his friends alone. But he'd have to.

"Blister, take everyone and go. I'm gonna go help Crow out."

"Right," Blister nodded.

"Be careful," Keisa said, hesitating. "I mean it this time."

Yusei just nodded. He jerked on his helmet and tore out of the tunnel after Crow. Keisa turned towards her runner and just stared at the dirty sheet hiding it in the corner. She knew it wasn't ready to be ridden. It wouldn't be for a long time. But that didn't mean she couldn't take it with her.

"Come on, Keisa," Blitz called.

"Yeah, one sec." She threw her laptop into a bag and yanked the sheet off her duel runner. For a split second, part of her thought this would be a bad idea. But a bigger part wanted to keep tabs on Yusei. And this was the way to do it. Besides, she couldn't just leave it there. What if someone happened to find it by accident? She didn't want to risk that.

"Isn't that thing slowing you down?" Blister asked Keisa as they walked along towards the bridge.

Keisa typed as she walked while Rally, having volunteered to push her runner, walked next to her. "Not really," she responded. "Right now I'm trying to set up at least a com link with Yusei."

"Attached?"

"He's the only relative I have left," she muttered, clicking furiously now.

"_Let's duel!"_

"I am so good," she smirked to herself. "I got a com link and visual working."

"What's going on there?" Rally asked.

"Can't go twenty feet without a duel, eh Brother?"

"_Keisa," _was Yusei's reply. To Crow he said, _"They can trap 2 duelists in Speed World at once?"_

"_Haven't_ _been chased down by Sector Security in a while, huh, Bud?"_ Crow laughed.

"Sector Security has really stepped up," Keisa agreed.

"_Keisa," _Yusei started, _"focus on getting out of here. Let us focus on shaking Security. Worry about youself. We'll be fine"_

"Right," she sighed. "Just be careful." She was about to click off the link when a feeling of de ja vu washed over her and she remembered something. "But before I go—"

"_Keisa—"_

"—We need to talk later." She clicked off the com link before he could say anything else. His little disappearance before the Fortune Cup did not go unnoticed. Like the mark on his cheek.


	8. Dark Signs Part 1

**Oh my. Last update was 7 months ago. I apologize. I've been mighty busy. School, winterguard, holidays, etc. Anyways, main reason was my computer with all my files crashed and I wasn't allowed to hook it up to my new laptop because it had 20+ viruses. We ended up scratching it because they were in the registry.**

**If any of that makes sense to you, lol.**

**Chapter 8: Dark Signs Part 1**

"Tank! Will you stop shaking the bridge? Everyone's gonna fall."

"Will you stop saying that?" Tank snapped, gripping the ropes tightly on either side of him.

"Just keep walking," Blitz urged.

Keisa could hear Tank and Nervin continue to bicker as they slowly crept across the swinging bridge. "Stop talking, keep walking," she called angrily. "I'm getting tired of waiting." She heard Blister say something about a "rat-infested hangout" and shook her head. "At least Sector Security won't even come out here," she mumbled to herself.

She looked over at the bridge jutting out from the size of the satellite. It was unfinished, looking more like a long shard of scrap metal than a bridge between Neo Domino and the satellite. Keisa figured it was more of a diminishing symbol of hope than an actual plan to connect the two places.

Maybe one day…

—

"We were supposed to meet Yusei here," Rally grumbled, kicking up dirt. The crew sat in the middle of an abandoned street, biding their time until their two dueling friends could—hopefully—catch up. "Do you think something happened to him?"

Keisa's ears perked up, but she continued to tighten screws on her bike reguardless.

"I'm sure he's fine. Let's just wait," Blister suggested calmly. Keisa liked this guy. He was like her brother in a way—always trying to keep people safe and calm.

"I hate waiting," Blitz muttered, dropping down onto a box with a grunt.

"What if he got caught?" Tank hypothesized dramatically. "And what if we never see him again."

Keisa froze and sent him a look over her shoulder.

"Shut up," Blitz snapped. "Are you trying to jinx us or something?"

"You guys are complete morons," Keisa sighed. "Hopeless."

A faint rumbling caught Rally's attention. Keisa noticed the change in the child and followed his line of vision to see two familiar runner coming their way.

"See?" She stood up and wiped her hands on her jeans. "They're here."

As Yusei and Crow rolled to a stop, suddenly doors flew open and the road filled with half a dozen children all yelling something about duel cards.

"Hey, hey," Crow laughed. "I brought you something _better _than cards! I brought you the new duel champ!" He gestured to Yusei, who removed his helmet and quickly surveyed the rest of his friends, not really paying attention to crow. His eyes lingered on his sister, who only shook her head bitterly.

"I watched that duel ten times!" a small voice told him. He looked down to see two boys looking up at him excitedly. Suddenly he was surrounded.

"Oh, geez," Keisa sighed.

"It's like they've never seen a duelist before," Rally muttered.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Keisa muttered, propping her bike up gently against a building. She bent down and wiped a few spots of dirt off the rims near the tires. She never really given much thought to what color she wanted to paint it. Definitely not pink. Too…bright.

"Keisa," a soft voice jerked her out of her thoughts. She straightened up and turned to face her brother, arms crossed.

As Keisa studied his face, though, her glare softened and she left out a puff of air, releasing a bit of the tension. She reached up and traced the bright yellow mark on his cheek.

"Did it hurt?"

"No," he said easily.

"Liar." She jabbed his mark with her finger.

"Ow." He caught her hand as she was about to do it again. He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Yuse—"

"I didn't know what to do," he whispered. Her eyes widened at the amount of morbid emotion in his voice. "When they told me that they had you and the others I—"

"I'm safe, Yusei." She pulled him tighter, suddenly feeling like she was five years old again, feeling like a little girl who needed her older brother. "I'm safe and it's thanks to you." She pulled away and looking up into his eyes, mirror images of her own. He may have been a year older than her, but they had the same eyes.

He smiled half-heartedly. "Right."

She pushed him away and turned back to her bike, fiddling with the center console. "You're an idiot, asshole brother who scared the hell out of all of us—but we're safe because of you."

Yusei smiled for real. "I really missed you, Keisa. You and your mouth." He ruffled her hair. "Where did you get that from anyway, surely not from me."

"You're not _that _cool," she laughed, swatting his hand away.

"Hey, Yusei," Crow called from a small fire he had started. He waved them over. His face was grim, all earlier jubilation gone. "Tell them what you were telling me before, about the signers or whatever."

—

"So what you're saying is—these 'dark signers' want to destroy the satellite?" Keisa clarified skeptically.

"That's right," Yusei nodded, staring at the dancing flames of the fire, his eyes far away. "I saw it in a vision when I was dueling Jack." Keisa scowled on impulse and made a mental note to strike "white" off her potential duel runner colors.

"If it's true, what d we do?" Blitz asked.

"We gone home, pack up, and use the pipeline to get out of here," Tank suggested.

"It would never pan out," Keisa shot him down. "Right now, Yusei's runner is probably the only one that has a chance of making the time limit—we know that. Then you have to add in the drag of added weight and the fact that it would take us _months _to go back and forth to get everyone."

"I know you guys are scared—I am, too." Yusei took his gloves off and rolled up his right sleeve slowly. Keisa's jaw dropped and she grabbed his arm, jerking the sleeve up higher.

"And what the hell is _this_? I don't remember Sector Security being artists," she snapped.

"It's not a tattoo," he explained softly. "This mark has made me a part of this war. It means I'm a signer. And if I don't fight the dark signers, then there's no hope for anyone." He glanced up at his sister's still-angry face.

"You know I'm with you," Crow spoke up, a serious look on his face and an intense glint in his eyes. "I'll help in any way I can."

"Yeah," Keisa nodded, watching Crow look towards the group of little kids with insane care. "I'm right here, too."

—

The fire still crackled, muffled a little by the snores of the sleep group around it. Yusei sat up and looked down at his younger sister's sleeping form. She had set her sleeping bag up next to his, but was turned away from him.

He knew what he had to do. He never wanted to feel the fear and anxiety he felt back in Neo Domino when realization had hit. When he had seen the picture of his sister and their friends—when he was told they were being held captive—the darkest, thickest fear settled deep in his chest. No. That wouldn't happen again. He would protect them this time.

He stood up, prepared his runner, and gave it a hefty push to get it moving.

"Little late for a joy ride, isn't it, Yuse?" a voice stopped him.

"So what?" he responded flatly, knowing _exactly _where this was going to end up.

"So if you're planning on going after the dark signer scum, I'm coming, too," he declared, crossing his arms.

"It's too dangerous," Yusei argued. "Just go back to the others. This is _my _battle."

"What?" Crow raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well, just try and stop me."

"I've already put enough people in danger, Crow," Yusei grumbled, pushing his runner further down the road.

"Wha—hold on!" Crow called to him quietly. He ran after his friend and stood in front of the tires. "Who's gonna have your back against the dark signers, huh?"

Yusei shook his head. "You don't understand—you face them, you play for keeps. This isn't just another duel." Crow's eyes narrowed. "They put up a force field. No one leaves until it's over. All the battle damage is real. Even if you manage to win, you're still talking about a world of hurt. And if you lose—game over." He looked his friend in the eye. "So tell me—that sound like fun to you?"

"Well, _you _sure haven't lightened up," Crow sighed, scratching his head. "But you're not the only one with something to lose here, you know."

"There's no going back. You sure about this?" Yusei knew there was no arguing with him anymore. Crow was absolutely stubborn, but he was his own person and could make his own decisions. Yusei wouldn't stop him. He couldn't.

"Yeah."

Yusei took a deep breath, a small smile sliding onto his face. "Well, in that case, let's go."

Crow grinned. "Alright, but you have to leave some of those dark signers to me." He noticed one of the sleeping forms roll over past Yusei's shoulder. "Keisa is going to be so pissed off at you, man."

Yusei rolled his eyes. He'd thought about that. With another push, they were moving down the road—this time towards Crow's runner. "She'll get over it."

"Not quietly, though," Crow laughed. "We'll probably be hearing about it for days."

"It's for her own good. The day she gets that duel runner up and going…" he trailed.

"That's the day shit hits the fan," Crow laughed. "There'll be no stopping her. But you can't be too hard on her for that—you're the exact same way."

"Right."

"No! Really!"

"Sure."

"Hey, where are we going anyways?"

"The old reactor," Yusei explained as they both saddled up on their runners and kicked them into gear.

"I'm not going there!" Crow exclaimed. "What do you think you'll find there? Tetanus?"

"Funny. But I think Goodwin was pointing me toward it," Yusei called over the wind.

"If you say so," Crow muttered, shooting ahead. "Try and keep up."

—

"Wake up! Yusei's gone!" Rally yelled hysterically.

Keisa shot up, heart thumping loudly. She looked over to where Crow had been and noticed his nest empty, too. Somehow, this calmed her a little bit. To know that her brother was with an old friend soothed her a bit. He wasn't in major trouble. Yet.

"Crow's gone, too," Keisa noted.

"What if the dark signers got them?" Tank blurted out.

"Unlikely," Keisa responded flatly. She stood up and stretched. "Let's split up and look for them." She tucked her deck into its case on her hip.

"Blister, can you stay here with the kids in case they come back?" Blitz called over.

"Sure," he responded with a thumbs up.

"Did they say Crow's missing, too?" Keisa heard one of the kids ask. "Is he gonna be alright?

Not when I'm through with the two of them, she thought, storming off.


	9. Dark Signs Part 2

**Oh, my! Look at this! ANOTHER UPDATE. And it hasn't even been 8 days :D**

So I am still a part of Aria Winterguard and we just competed in the WGI Richmond Regional in Virginia and came out in 2nd place by THREE TENTHS OF A POINT.

You better get it.

Anyways, I'm from the middle of North Carolina so it was a good 3-4 hour trip so I took my handy dandy laptop with me to do my homework in the car both there and back and used it to write fanfiction instead :)

AND IT'S A FREAKING LONG CHAPTER, YO.

**Chapter 9: Dark Signs Part 2**

Keisa slammed to a stop and gasped at the sight in the sky. Swirling blue and purple lights created a strange pattern above their heads.

"What the hell is that?" Nervin whispered shakily behind her.

"Not good," Keisa ground out, before taking off down the street at a faster pace.

A helicopter sped by overhead and Keisa glanced up to see a familiar person hanging out the door looking down on the same strange lights she was looking up at.

Jack.

Anger coursed through her veins like ice. What was _he _doing in the satellite? Just what exactly what was going on over there that it attracted the attention of _Jack Atlus_? When he left the satellite, he gave up all rights to their business. There was no reason he needed to be hanging around anymore. What happened to his fabulous life on the other side?

Ignoring him, she pushed on. It seemed like the road was endless, like she would never get there. Each footfall, each step felt like it wasn't fast enough. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Hang in there, Yusei," she finally heard Crow's voice. He was sitting on his runner, watching Yusei duel on a track that resembled the glowing shape hovering in the sky. She stopped right next him, her lungs on fire. "Hey, you okay? What are you doing here?"

Keisa could only shake her head as she inhaled deeply, trying to regulate her pounding heart and erratic breathing. "Yusei…"

"He's dueling," Crow mumbled, turning back to the large track before them.

Keisa's eyes widened when she caught sight of his opponent speeding around the track in front of her brother. "Is that…._Kalin_?" She managed. A large circle opened above Yusei and a hand reached down towards him.

"Yeah," Crow confirmed. "It is."

"He's different," she noted, breathing easier, but still breathing heavy. "And with Jack hanging out up there, it's like a damn reunion from hell."

"Yusei played Scrap-Iron Scarecrow," Crow sighed in relief. "That was a close one—but I know he's gonna get closer."

"Kalin was never one to pull any punches," Keisa agreed. "I just hope Yusei can pull out something new."

"He doesn't need to." Crow shook his head. "His deck has never let him down before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," she muttered, looking over at the stats Crow had pulled up on his runner.

"He'll be fine," he tried to reassure her.

The duel continued on. Every time Yusei seemed to have him, Kalin did something he never would have done when Keisa had known him back when the guys were all in a gang together. Guess he had learned some new tricks.

"Whatever he's building up to summoning, I have a feeling we're not going to like it," Crow stated darkly.

"Come on, Yusei," Keisa cheered quietly, knowing her brother wouldn't be able to hear her. She doubted Crow's runner had comm capabilities. He might have been able to build a runner, but she doubted it had been easy to do that, let alone anything fancy added.

She would just have to upgrade it one day.

One Hundred Eyes Dragon appeared on the field and both Crow and Keisa let out a breath.

"That thing has 3000 attack points!" Crow exclaimed.

Keisa's head whipped towards the stats on his runner in disbelief. "That's stronger than anything in his deck," she whispered, horrified. "How is he going to stop that thing?"

Crow's stomach fell to the ground as Yusei's lecture bounced through his head. _You face them, you play for keeps. This isn't just another duel._ There was no way he could tell Keisa what he had told him earlier. She would only worry needlessly.

Yusei was strong. He'd make it through this duel.

A chain of events dealt Yusei battle damage. Crow cringed and looked on in fear as Yusei's runner began to spin out.

Keisa gasped and grabbed onto one of Crow's shoulders for support, one hand at her face in an attempt to mask her horror. "Crow, he hasn't done maintenance on his bike in a long time. Before he went to Neo Domino. He might have done a small bit of tuning during the tournament, but I'll bet he hasn't run diagnostic since before then."

"How do you know?"

"Because _I _run his diagnostics, _I _have all his equipment."

A thick silence befell them and they looked on, praying silently as the duel raged on. Yusei managed to dodge Kalin's huge, direct attacks, but just barely. It's only a matter of time, Keisa began to think, but shook her head to clear the thoughts. No, Yusei could do it.

But another hit sent Yusei's runner shaking and swerving down the path.

"Crow, Keisa!" Rally shouted behind them. "Hey! Where's Yusei?" The group surrounded the two.

"There," Crow pointed to the track.

"Whoa, he's dueling," Rally breathed.

"Not just dueling, he's turbo dueling," Nervin gasped.

"But who's the other guy?" Tank asked.

"It's Kalin," Keisa growled, still looking for negative signs from Yusei's runner as he sped up. It hitched a bit when he twisted the throttle, but so far so good.

"As in take-over-satellite-Kalin?" Blitz demanded, shocked. "I thought he was locked up!"

"Is he behind the big glowing thing in the sky?" Rally asked, holding onto Keisa's arm as he leaned forward to read the stats on Crow's runner.

"Yup," Crow told him, leaning back to give him a better view. "Remember the dark signers Yusei was talking about? Apparently Kalin is one of them." Keisa nodded slowly. Although this hadn't been brought up before, she had just assumed.

"He'll be okay," Rally declared.

Crow averted his eyes. Something was up, Keisa knew. There was something else. He knew something. "What?" she demanded. He kept quiet, so she did something she hadn't done since she was eight or nine. She reached over and pinched him, hard.

"OW, Keisa!" She just glared at him.

"I'm not dumb," she snapped.

He looked away again. "I didn't want to tell you because Yusei didn't want you to know—"

"Yusei doesn't want me to know a lot of things I know."

"—but he's trapped in this duel until someone loses. The battle damage is real." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Yusei's runner began to shake violently.

"Why is his runner so wobbly?" Rally gasped.

"It needs maintenance," Keisa whispered, distracted. "One of the wheels looks like it's grinding on the rim." Her brows pulled together as she focused. "Come on, Yuse."

As if he had heard her prayers, a chain of commands and Yusei had summoned Stardust Dragon. But even Stardust was not enough. Kalin still had lost of abilities as long as he had no cards in his hand.

Then things turned around. Yusei had Kalin down on the edge for about ten seconds. But with one flip of a card and Yusei was pushed back yet again. Things were not looking good for her brother, and Keisa was worried.

The situation only got worse when Kalin played his "most powerful card." Standing in the foggy lights that made up the turbo duel track were dozens and dozens of shrouded figures in cloaks.

"Do you see that?" Keisa whispered, astonished.

"There are people in the purple mist," Rally cried.

"Maybe they're the same people who were taken in by that weird group and hid underground," Crow muttered under his breath as he looked on just as shocked. Keisa glanced over her shoulder at him in confusion. The signers had been taking people? When Crow gasped, she followed his line of sight to see the people turn into bright lights and gather in the sky.

"He's sacrificing them?" Keisa yelled as a giant, shadowy figure appeared where the people had gone to in the sky.

"That is really big," Crow stated.

The large hand descended on Yusei slowly. Keisa watched as he tried to get Stardust to attack and then attempt to activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow—both of which failed. The monster proceeded towards Yusei.

"There's no way he can stop this attack," Keisa gasped, not knowing what to do. There was nothing she _could _do. Just as the hand of the creature was about to reach him, something on Yusei's runner gave out in a puff of smoke and a spray of blue sparks. The bike jerked violently and dropped in speed.

Keisa watched, fingers to her horrified face, as Yusei flipped over the front of the bike, which was now skidding down the road behind him, throwing off parts in every direction. Both the bike and Yusei finally rolled to a stop, but Yusei didn't get up. Kalin pulled up in front of him and for one tiny second, Keisa thought he might revert back to the Kalin she knew and help him. But all he did was call back his monster and drive off.

The colors in the sky faded, reverting the place back into an empty satellite slum.

"Yusei!" Keisa screamed, running down the hill at a speed she never knew she could run at. She slid up to him and dropped to her knees. "Yusei, oh, God." The pain on his face told her that he was not alright. Broken bones? Spine injury? She could hear the others run up behind her.

"Yusei!" Rally cried. "Are you alright?"

But Yusei didn't answer. Blitz walked over to the other side and carefully rolled Yusei onto his back. Keisa tried not to burst into tears at the sight of the huge piece of metal protruding from her brother's stomach, but a few escaped tears slid down her cheeks.

"Yusei," she cried. "Can you hear me?" She reached up to remove his helmet.

"Don't touch him!" Crow sped down the hill on his runner. "Get him on, quick," he commanded. Keisa stood up and watched helplessly as they laid her brother across the back of Crow's bike. "I'm sorry, Keisa, but I can't take you both." Keisa managed to shake her head, but couldn't speak. "I'm taking him to Martha's." Her heart warmed at the memory of the old woman who had taken care of them years ago.

"Martha's house?" Blitz asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Crow nodded, revving up his engine. He took off and called back, "I'll meet you there."

Keisa nodded and watch Crow race away at top speed. A thrumming in the sky caught her attention and she watched angrily as the helicopter she knew Jack was still in fly back towards Neo Domino.

A blind, white rage filler Keisa. She stormed over to her brother's broken runner. She pulled a small wrench from her pocket and began screwing a few things back in.

"It's beyond repair right now," Blitz's soft voice floated to her. He laid his hand on her shoulder, but she just shrugged him off.

"It's getting dark," she told him bitterly. "I need to get Yusei's runner fix just enough so we can wheel it to Martha's. The thugs should be out soon."

"You're right." Rally dropped to his knees on the other side of the runner and began to gather shards of the runner.

"We can't push that thing all the way to Martha's," Nervin argued. "It'll slow us down."

"Besides, when we get to Ripper Row, a runner like that is gang bait," Tank added.

"We can't leave it here," Rally snapped. "You don't think someone will steal it if we leave it lying out here?"

"I'm not going to let that happen," Keisa declared, spinning the front wheel before she stood up and pocketed the wrench. "There's a piece of every one of us in here."

"They've got a point," Blitz sighed.

All of them had spent weeks spread out in the satellite, looking for parts that could be useful to him. But when Yusei revved the engine for the first time, it was like their freedom from the satellite was a whole mile closer to them. Keisa could have tasted it on her lips. Especially after Jack had stolen their first runner. They had all accomplished something together.

All five of them picked the runner up and began to wheel it slowly back to the main road towards Martha's house. The weight of the engine and parts made their pace slow, but they were saving Yusei's runner. It was the least they could do.

Yusei.

Keisa forced herself not to think about her brother.

Or the metal.

Or the blood.

No. She focused on the sound of crushing pebbles and rocks, the sound of her friends making idle chatter as they pressed on down the road.

"You four lost or something?"

Keisa's eyes narrowed on some of the perfect distractions. Her fingers inched towards her deck case at her waist. The cards brushed her fingertips comfortingly. All it would take was the press of a button and a challenge and she would duel her way through these thugs.

"We still have a long way to go," Rally whispered, a tremor in his voice.

"Any ideas?" Blitz asked.

"Keep pushing," Keisa suggested as more and more people filed out of buildings and surrounded them. There was no way she could possibly duel them _all._

"There's a toll for passing through Outcast Alley, you know," someone sneered.

"That shiny red bike oughta take care of it," another laughed.

"Back off, buddy," Blitz warned, threatening one with a pipe that had fallen off the runner.

"Blitz, that's not going to help us," Keisa growled.

"Told you bringing the runner was a bad idea," Tank mumbled.

"Hey, guys," Keisa stepped up. How would Yusei handle something like this? "Surely we can work something out?"

"Just fork over the duel runner and we'll let yous go," someone behind her tried.

"You're not getting on bolt off this runner," Keisa snapped.

"Okay, then what about your decks? You guys have decks, don't you?"

Keisa's hand wrapped around her cards. Could she do it? Could she sacrifice her precious cards to save her brother's runner—and possibly their lives? She began to pull it out, but a hand wrapped around her wrist and stopped her.

"We don't have decks," Blitz called out over her shoulder. "This runner belongs to the young lady's brother." He slowly removed his hand from her wrist and tugged the back of her shirt down the cover the deck case. She prayed no one saw, but still. How else were they going to get out of this?

"Bullshit," someone cried.

Someone, probably the most scar-marked and rugged of them all, stepped up in front of them. "It's your decks or the bike. No one wants to get hurt, I'm sure. You understand." He gave them a shit-eating grin and crossed their arms.

"I'll give you my best card," Keisa blurted. "Scrap Dragon. Level 8 monster. Just let us pass through without any trouble." The man stood there, silent. "Please." She resisted every habit that told her to pop out her brother's duel disk and attempt to duel every one of these thugs. She couldn't waste that much time.

"Alright," he caved. "Scrap Dragon."

There were quiet protests as she removed the card from its spot at the top of her deck. She glanced down at the art, the metal dragon made of scraps. It was actually really ironic. One piece of scrap for another. Though, what she got—their safe travel through the alley and Yusei's runner—was well worth it. She could always come back and duel for the return of her card.

The guy took the card and Keisa vowed then that she would see it again. They continued past the alley, pushing the runner faster than they had been before. As soon as they were far enough away, Blitz stopped pushing and they all let out a collective breath.

"I think we got away," Rally declared.

"I can't believe you did that," Blitz ground out, kicking a piece of rubble in the road.

Keisa leaned up against the runner and shrugged. "Necessary casualty. Collateral damage. It was worth it."

"Is it going to be worth it when Yusei finds out?" he snapped. "What do you think he's gonna say?"

"It's not his card, it's mine."

"Keisa!" he started pacing erratically. "He's already lost Stardust Dragon—"

"He got it back," she tried to argue.

Blitz just groaned. "You don't get it."

Keisa pushed off from the runner and began to force it down the road on her own. "Let's just go. I need to see if he's okay."

"We can't stay here," Rally agreed. "We're not safe."

The others helped her push the runner towards Martha's. "Yusei has done a lot for all of us, for me. It's about damn time I could do something for him."

—

The group had been pushing in silence for a long time. No one dared to complain after Keisa and Blitz's argument, which left the tension still thick in the air. Suddenly, a light filled the area around them and they all stopped moving, a cold fear consuming all of them.

"It's sector Security," Rally whispered shakily. Keisa pulled him to her and ran a thumb over his mark.

"It'll be fine," she murmured.

"Wait a minute, Sector Security doesn't patrol way out here," Nervin noted, trying to see into the light.

"So then, who is it?" Tank asked just as a man passed through the light and stepped up to them with a small wave.

"Hey."

"It's Blister," Blitz sighed in relief.

"What are you guys doing way out here?" he asked.

"It's Yusei," Rally cried.

Blister's eyebrows drew together in confusion as he scanned the group. Yusei was not among them, he noticed. His eyes landed on the next best thing—his sister.

"He's been hurt pretty bad in a duel," she told him when she noticed him staring at her. "Crow took him to Martha's—we were just on our way. His bike is trashed, though."

Blister took in the extreme concern in the air and nodded. "Let me help."

—

Keisa stopped pushing the runner as soon as Martha's place was within her line of sight. She gave a short nod to Blitz and the others before running around them and sprinting into the building.

Crow was leaned against the stairs, a grim look on his face.

"Where is Yusei?" she demanded.

"Martha took him in there." He jerked his head towards the door that led to what she remembered to be the living room. Doctor is operating on him to remove the embedded pieces and to make sure there's no internal bleeding and whatever, I guess," he told her softly.

Keisa crumbled where she stood. She fell to her knees and held her head in her hands, her forehead resting on her knees. Yusei was all she had left. What was she supposed to do without him? She couldn't build runners yet. There was no way she could figure it out on her own like he did. What was she supposed to do?

She felt Crow lean down and help her back to her feet long enough for him to get her to the bench along the wall.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked him brokenly. "How—"

"He's gonna be okay, Keisa," Crow said sternly. "All you have to do is hold onto this until he's ready for it again." She looked up at the red helmet that he was holding out to her. He was right. Yusei would pull through somehow. He always did. Even if it was by the skin of his teeth. Or luck, as his earlier duel would have it.

Maybe it _was _luck that the duel had been interrupted. He would have lost if his runner hadn't broken.

And it was Keisa's job to support him until he was ready to get back out there and show the dark signers what he was really made of.


	10. Supersensory Shakedown

**Yet another update…**

**Chapter 10: Supersensory Shakedown**

Everyone sat around in the foyer waiting anxiously. Keisa had passed Yusei's helmet off to comfort Rally, who now clutched it at the foot of the stairs. Keisa had moved to the floor next to crow. She could feel her body craving sleep, but her mind refused to let it rest. She prayed internally, nonstop.

The catch on the door clicked and swung open. Everyone jumped.

"Quiet a crowd you've gathered, Crow," Martha muttered as she looked over the people in her house.

"Martha," Keisa exclaimed. She scrambled over to the woman, who immediately took the familiar girl into her arms. "Martha, how is Yusei?"

A smile appeared on Martha's face and something in Keisa released a little. "He'll be fine," she sighed.

A few more tears trailed down Keisa's cheeks and she felt the knot in her stomach loosen even more. "Thank God," she sighed, releasing the woman.

"He'll need a few more days of rest in bed," the doctor confirmed. "There was a bit of internal bleeding, but he'll be just fine. Just keep him from underground duels for a while."

Rally looked down at the helmet in his hands and then held it out for Keisa to take.

"You bet I'll make sure of that," she muttered, still happy her brother would be okay.

"So what now?" Nervin asked.

"Now," Crow jumped up," we find that dark signer and make him pay!"

Martha shook her head and headed into the kitchen with the doctor, leaving the group alone in the front of the house. "I'll make something to eat," she called over her shoulder. "You kids don't go anywhere."

—

Yusei awoke with a start and a scream, shooting upright in his bed and effectively scaring the crap out of Keisa, who yelped in response. Yusei doubled over in pain.

"Hey." Keisa got out of her chair in the corner where she was helping Martha by folding clothes and rushed over to him. "You okay?"

"Well, look who's awake." Martha pushed a white curtain aside and stepped into the corner of the living room that she had turned into a medical wing for Yusei.

Yusei seemed taken aback. "Martha? What happened?"

"You took a nasty fall off your runner then Crow brought you here," she explained, her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.

"Nasty fall?" Keisa could see the memory come back to him just by the look on his face. Even through his usual poker face, she could sense the confusion turn to shock. "Oh yeah," he whispered, the epiphany showing on his face now as he stared into his lap. "I was dueling Kalin…"

"When you were little I told you dueling was dangerous. Now you're a wreck," Martha scolded.

"Check out your runner," Keisa told him softly, gesturing to the window over her shoulder with a jerk of her thumb. Yusei looked up and past her, through the window. His eyes widened, mouth dropping at the sight of Rally and the kids Martha took care of surrounding his once-destroyed runner.

"Surprised?" Martha smirked. "Keisa, Rally, and the others pushed it the whole way here."

"What?" Yusei looked at Keisa now. "Through the satellite?"

"We made it back alive," Keisa smiled. Her face turned deadly serious. "I know what that runner means to you. I wasn't going to just leave it there where someone could take it. We got it back here in one—well, actually, we got it back here in _multiple _pieces, but Rally's been a big help while Crow and I fixed it up."

"Hope is all anyone here in the satellite has. Sector Security has taken everything from us. The people here looked up to you, Yusei. We always thought you'd get out of here and start a real life." She turned away. "Which is why it breaks my heart to know you're back here again—dueling." She glanced back at him. "I hope, at least, you won your little game."

"It's not what you think," Yusei defended. His hand rested over his midsection protectively as he leaned towards Martha in an attempt to get her to understand. "There are people out there who want to destroy our home! All of us here are in danger. It's complicated but there's these dark signers and—"

The growing look of pain Yusei was trying to push back became too much for Keisa to let slide by. "You need to calm down, Yusei," Keisa commanded, resting a hand on his arm. "She believes you. Crow and I already explained. The signers, the dark signers, the real battle damage—all of it."

"How do you—"

"I was there, Yuse," Keisa said softly, but her voice and her face spoke volumes. She was, quite frankly, pissed.

"Kei, I—"

"If we're all in great danger, Yusei," Martha interrupted, turning away to peel an apple, "then why are you trying to save us all on your own?"

"It's my job."

"You'll just never change," Keisa snapped suddenly. "Trying to do everything by yourself and ending up in a hospital bed." Yusei didn't look at her, but she could see his shoulders curve into himself a little.

"You've got friends out there, and they're willing to help," the woman spoke softly. "Just look what they did for your duel runner. Keisa lost her favorite card just to keep it safe."

Yusei whirled around. "You _what_?"

Keisa's eyes flicked to the ceiling. Somewhere, Blitz was laughing at her.

"Then there's Jack—you two were like brothers," the older woman continued, cutting the seeds out of the apple slices meticulously. "You need each other. Whatever happened, it's time you all forgave and forgot." Yusei and Keisa remained silent. "And if it's true—if these Dark Signers want to turn our home into a parking lot, then you're going to need all the friends you can get. Because mark my words—I'm done patching you up just so you can go out and wreck yourself all over again. Your life is just too important to ride solo."

Yusei looked up as Martha handed him a place of apple pieces.

"Thank you, for all your help," he murmured.

She turned away and headed for the kitchen. "If you leave before I say you're ready to go then those scars are just the beginning," she called forcefully over her shoulder.

Yusei let out a soft chuckle and glanced down at the mark on his arm.

"We might not be signers, but we're your friends." Keisa flopped down into her chair and pulled her knees up to her chest. She watched the kids outside silently. "I'm your sister. I'll always have your back."

"We'll get your card back," he promised her softly, lying back down to alleviate the stress on his stomach.

"I will get it back," she whispered. She pushed her feet onto the floor and turned towards him with a smile. "Anyways, I fixed the runner and ran a diagnostic. Your front axle was bent, like it had taken a lot of pressure. It was making the front rim grind and loosened the whole from axle all together."

"The axle must have bent when they dropped me from the helicopter after I left Neo Domino," Yusei hypothesized.

"Yeah, dropping the runner from a helicopter could bend things," Keisa agreed flatly. "But besides that, I tuned some things and you're good to go for a while."

"Thanks, Keisa." Yusei sat up on one elbow, the other arm draped across his stomach beneath the blankets. "I mean it. I owe you a lot."

She stood up and walked over to him, a strange, confused look on her face. "You don't owe me anything, Yuse," she declared, exasperated. "You've taken care of me since forever! If anything, I still owe _you _big time."

"It's my job—as your brother."

"Well then, I was only doing my job as your sister."

"Keisa."

"Yusei."

He lay back down with a sigh. "I can't believe you lost your card."

"I'll get it back," she said easily.

"Wait until I can go with you."

"Maybe."

"Keisa."

"Fine." She stood up and stretched. "Get some rest. I'm gonna finish the laundry and then probably take a nap myself." She flicked his blanket-covered foot. "You're stuck here for a few days. Try not to tug on your stitches too much."

"Right." He rolled onto his side, away from Keisa.

She was just glad he was physically going to be alright.


	11. Digging Deeper

**So I think there was a glitch on the website a bit ago with chapter updates. I updated Sunday night and then again last night, but didn't get the e-mail about the chapters being posted until tonight. And one reviewer mentioned "two updates in one day" which wasn't the case.**

I thought I wasn't getting reviews because no one was reading…

**Ah, well, here's another chapter.**

**Chapter 11: Digging Deeper Part 1**

Keisa walked around the side of the house, wiping her hands on a rag. She stopped when she rounded the corner and noticed Yusei standing several feet away from his runner, just staring at it. She could see the tension in his shoulders. His fists were clenched and shaking. Keisa felt her heart break.

Of course his confidence would be shot. He'd had his ass handed to him right before he crashed and burned. It had probably been at least slightly traumatic. She glanced behind her at her own runner, leaning up against the house. It seemed a little more frightening than it had a few days ago.

"Hey Yusei!" Rally ran past her. "How are you feeling?"

"Are you supposed to be up yet?" She scolded, joining Rally.

Yusei smiled. "I'm feeling much better."

"Are you going to be able to fix the runner?" Rally asked. They had gotten it running, but none of them knew if it _worked_. "If you need us to scavenge you some new parts—just say the word!"

"Are you sure?" he asked him skeptically. "You guys have already done so much."

"Sure we're sure!" Rally jumped up and down. "What are best friends for? Whatever you need!"

Yusei smiled softly and looked at Keisa. "You guys are the best." He looked down at his hands, which were noticeably shaking. All her previous thoughts were confirmed then. He was afraid. Well, she'd just have to get him back up to speed.

"So, I replaced the obvious stuff—the axle and the wheel and such, but I can't ride yet—" Keisa began, gesturing to the parts she spoke of.

"It's okay—we have plenty of time for test runs later," Yusei explained. "Martha says I'm not allowed to ride yet."

"Well, everyone else has already eaten, so I made us some soup." To anyone else it would sound like an offer, but to Yusei, he knew it was an eat-it-or-die kind of thing. So he followed her wordlessly, sending Rally off to the other kids with a wave.

"This smells awesome, Kei," Yusei noted, sitting down carefully as Keisa placed a bowl in front of him. "Thanks."

"No problem." They ate in silence. Yusei's poker face was firmly intact. She wanted to bring it up, but she didn't know how to do it tactfully. How could she tell him to get over it without sounding insensitive.

She wanted to laugh at herself. Since when has "tact" and "sensitive" ever been used to describe herself? This was her brother. Even if her words came out a bit harsh, she knew he would forgive her eventually.

"Someone wise once told me," she started in between bites of vegetables, "that whenever you're knocked down, you can't be afraid to get back up. The longer you wait, the harder it gets." Yusei stopped eating and glanced up at her. "You're afraid to turbo duel again, aren't you?"

He didn't respond, he simply resumed eating. That was all the confirmation she needed.

"Getting back on your runner for the first time is probably going to be the hardest of them all." She didn't know what she was saying. She just wanted to support him somehow. She was running on assumptions she weren't even sure were true. "Besides," he tone changed to a less serious one, "I haven't even learned to ride yet. So teach me before you quit."

He laughed. "We'll see. We still haven't even been able to find all the parts for your runner, yet."

"We will." She bounced in her chair.

"And just where do you expect to find a spare engine that would work?" He didn't mean to shoot her down—he was just being honest.

"I dunno," she shrugged. "I figure you found two, and Crow found one, then I should be able to find one."

Yusei remained silent for a second. "You know, I've been thinking."

"About what?" she asked around a mouthful of vegetables.

"Something Martha said."

"What about it?" She began to down her glass of water.

"I got Stardust back, I think it's time I forgave Jack. He was only doing what he thought he had to."

Keisa nearly choked on her water. "Excuse me? Dude trapped Rally on a boat off shore, stole your card and your runner, and you're going to forgive him for that?"

"And I think you should, too," he nodded.

"Uh uh, no. No _way _am I _ever _going to forgive him."

"Martha was also right about something else—we need all the friends we can get with these dark signers."

"So why Jack?" she snapped.

"He's a signer."

Keisa leaned back in her chair in shock. "I can't believe that. Who else? How many?"

"There are supposedly five signers. Jack and myself, of course," he began to tick off on his fingers. "Then there's a girl about your age name Akiza, and a younger girl about Rally's age named Luna."

"And the fifth signer?"

"We don't know yet," he shook his head slowly. "No one has come out yet."

"Not all of those duelists are in the satellite, are they? Jack certainly isn't," she muttered bitterly.

"Actually, the other signers are all in Neo Domino."

Keisa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Oh, so I get it. None of the satellite scum was chosen to be a signer even though the _satellite _is what's in danger? Sounds like a plan to me!" She stood up angrily and took her bowl to wash it out in the sink.

Yusei opened his mouth to respond when the mark on his arm lit up. "What?" He stood up, his chair flying backwards loudly as it scraped the floor, and he bolted out the front door before Keisa could protest.

So she followed him. He had stopped in the middle of the front yard, eyes skyward.

"What the hell," she muttered airily. In the sky was a large purple shape, much like the one that had hung above Yusei and Kalin's turbo duel.

"Someone's dueling a dark signer," Yusei whispered.

"That's over Neo Domino City," Keisa gasped, turning to Yusei.

"You're sign is glowing through your sleeve," Keisa noted. She took a hold of his wrist and brought it up closer to her face. How was this possible?


	12. Clash of the Dragons Part 1

**Sorry for the nearly 7 month wait. Shit gets cray cray sometimes ;P**

**Enjoy…**

**Chapter 13: Clash of the Dragons Part 1**

Keisa stretched and rolled over in her makeshift bed on the floor of Martha's living room.

"Always the last one up," the older woman chuckled, shaking out sheets and stacking up pillows.

"I work hard, leave me be," she smiled and rolled over.

"Not a chance." A pillow hit her in the back of the head and she shot a look over at Martha. "Up and at 'em, kiddo. I believe you have things to do today."

"Right," she sighed, standing to clean up her own blankets. "Any idea where Yusei is at?"

Martha paused her folding and looked out the window, gesturing to the two figures out in the yard with her chin. "He and Blister are tinkering with Yusei's runner, I believe."

"He's not going anywhere is he?" Keisa picked up the pace and grabbed a set of clean clothes.

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Good," Keisa breathed.

—

By the time she got outside, Yusei was revving the engine, wheels spinning uselessly in the air.

"That sounds great," Blister commented as she arrived.

"Thanks," Yusei glanced up. "It's, uh, almost ready."

"Any news about what's been going on in Neo Domino City?" Keisa asked as she stepped up next to the runner, giving the front axle a simple test of her own.

"The whole city's in a state of chaos," Blister announced gravely, clicking away on a laptop of his own. The dark signers turned 10 city blocks into rubble."

"What?" Keisa had been astonished by their power before, when Yusei had dueled Kalin, but this…this was just unbelievable.

"Yeah, and get this," he continued, tilting the screen so Yusei and Keisa could see a map of Neo Domino. "The only building left standing was the Arcadia Movement's headquarters."

"The what?" Keisa asked.

"Do you think they went after Akiza?" Yusei asked, standing up straight, poker face going full force.

"Who?"

"Probably," Blister admitted. "Can't see what other reasoning they could have had. She's in the hospital. I hacked in and got her records. It sounds like she's in a coma. She just won't wake up."

"A coma," Yusei muttered, subconsciously studying his arm.

"I'm feeling a little left out of this conversation," Keisa muttered angrily.

"You gonna use a little bit of that signer mojo to help? Because I'm sure she needs a friend right now."

"So she's a signer? Now we're getting some useful information out of this." Keisa looked up at Yusei, whose eyes held a faraway look to them. She knew what he was thinking. Or rather, what he was remembering. "Yusei, if she's hurt because of a dark signer, she's going to need you like you needed us after your duel with Kalin."

Yusei looked at her for the first time and something flashed across his face. "You're right," he whispered sadly. "But I couldn't even help myself during that shadow duel. I'm sure I'd only make things worse for her."

Keisa opened her mouth to disagree, but was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter approached. "Who is that?" she yelled above the noise.

"We're about to find out."

A man stepped out as it landed in the wide open space, his hair blowing wildly in the wind. "Yusei Fudo?" he called out.

"That's me," Yusei answered hesitantly.

"There's some business you and I need to discuss," he said, close enough that he didn't need to scream. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

Yusei simply nodded and turned toward the house. Keisa exchanged a suspicious look with Blister before the two followed them into the kitchen of Martha's house.

—

"I'd like to thank you for taking the time to see me, Mr. Fudo," he began as they sat down at the table. Keisa helped Martha pass out tea while Blister simply leaned against the wall by the window curiously.

"What is this about, if you don't mind me asking," Yusei said, and air of professionalism around him that Keisa wasn't sure she'd ever seen before. It wasn't like the way he got around thugs or other satellite scum. It was like he was an adult—something she'd never thought of him as.

"I'm here because I need your help to save my daughter, Akiza," he said in a rush.

Yusei's demeanor changed. Keisa noticed him lean into the table a little, his eyebrows pulling together. "So you're 'Dad.' I've heard of you," he nearly growled. "Not too flattering, I'm afraid, Senator."

"I know," the man sighed, his head dropping a bit. Suddenly, though, his expression changed. "But I'm trying to make things right!" Yusei was taken by surprise. "She's in the hospital suffering from some heartbreak that's _my fault_."

"How is it your fault?" Keisa asked. Was this man the dark signer who put her in the hospital?

"I pushed her away and she joined the Arcadia Movement." The senator hung his head again. "With Sayer missing, she's got no one. She doesn't even respond to us—her _parents_. And who blames her? That's why I'm here."

"Before I let my Yusei run off _again_, how about you tell us the whole story from the beginning," Martha demanded.

The senator leaned back in his chair and began his story…

—

"I can't help her right now." The senator's fists clenched at this admittance. "But Jack said you cared about her—you can help her!"

Keisa raised her eyebrows and shot her brother a surprised look. Just what happened during his time in Neo Domino City?

"But right now I don't think I have the strength to help her," Yusei told him flatly, eyes cast downward.

"But you must!" he insisted. "Jack thinks that you just need to duel her again. He says that _your _voice has the power to wake Akiza from her coma. _Your _deck might be able to heal her heart."

Yusei averted his gaze once again. "I would, but I'm in no shape to duel anyone right now."

"You're her only hope."

"I don't know…"

"For goodness sake!" Martha sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "You can't turn your back on this poor girl in her time of need."

"Unless," Keisa started, thinking out loud. "Unless you're afraid to duel again." The minute it was out of her mouth and the words hung in the air, Keisa knew it was true. The look of shock on her brother's face, angled down at the tabletop, was more than enough confirmation.

"So it's true. You're still thinking about that duel with Kalin, right?" Martha asked. "Well, you can't stay here. Wound's healed, bike's repaired, _what _are you waiting for?"

"I um, well, see…I…"

Keisa pressed her lips together to keep from laughing when Martha marched over and grabbed her brother by the ear.

"Shame on you, Yusei!" she snapped. "If you're not gonna help that girl, why'd I patch you up? If I've taught you one thing it's to help your sister and your friends. They're waiting for you. And if everything you've told me is true, well, then you'll need their help." She released Yusei roughly and took a step back. "And you're sure not gonna get it sitting in my dining room."

"I can only imagine how scared you must be, but you have to face that fear," Keisa told him gently. "Whenever you're knocked down, you can't be afraid to get back up. The longer you wait, the harder it gets." Yusei smiled and let out a small chuckle.

"Alright."

"You'll help?" The senator stood up, hopeful. Yusei gave him a short nod. "Thank you!"

"And maybe once this is over you'll take her on a date," Martha suggested.

"Huh? A _what_?" Yusei gaped.

"Oh, my…" Keisa burst out laughing.

"I'm just saying, if you two have some sort of connection…"

"I'm trying to save the world, not date!" At this outburst, Blister joined in on Keisa's intense laughter.

"He's already got a girlfriend—his duel runner!"

Ignoring the others, Yusei turned to the only man not laughing at him. "When do we leave?"

Keisa sobered up as they headed for the door. "Oh, I am _not _be left in the satellite again. It's obvious you need to be chaperoned."

"Let's go," Yusei sighed, not up for arguing.

—

Amazed at the cleanliness, Keisa followed Yusei and the senator into the hospital building, an amazingly tall building. None of what she saw looked anything like the satellite. It was so foreign and she could barely imagine what it must feel like to live there.

"Yusei!" a young voice cried out. "I knew you'd show up." Keisa's attention snapped to two young children about the same age. A girl and a boy. But what caught her attention after that was Jack, who was standing behind them, his usual frown plastered on his face.

She had to physically keep herself for saying something rude by crossing her arms tightly. Yusei told her to forgive and forget. He was just doing what he thought he had—_he left Rally in the middle of a flipping lake_. Forget _that_, she thought to herself, glaring daggers at him.

"Hey guys," Yusei said in passing as the senator held open the door for him. The group followed him into a large, wide open room.

What a waste of space, Keisa thought. There was a single bed in a room bigger than anything she had seen. Ever. She could _live _in just that space for the rest of her life and it could feel like a mansion to her.

Yusei stepped up to the side of a redheads bed and removed his duel disc. She could only be the one called Akiza. She was pretty, Keisa amended.

"It's me, Yusei." He removed his glove and wiped a tear from her face. The minute his skin made contact with hers, both their marks lit up like a light bulb and her eyes began to flutter open. "You're awake!"

Akiza sat up and looked at him with grogginess in her eyes. "Yusei? What happened to me?"

"Akiza!" the senator cried out.

Akiza looked over at them and suddenly her face fell. "What are _they _doing here?" She snapped. The look of utter despair on her father's face stirred something in Keisa. "In case you didn't know, I got a new family. Sayer's all I need now." A look of recognition crossed her eyes. "I remember! He fell! But he was all I had left!" She rounded on her parents. "_It's your fault_."

"It was a dark signer," Yusei told her gently.

"Stay out of this, Yusei," she hissed. "I have nothing left, no family." She shoved Yusei away and held onto the edge of the bed for support.

Keisa lifted a hand subconsciously, but stopped herself. This girl…

"I'll just have to erase _you _from my memories as well, Yusei Fudo!"

"I know this is hard to take in, but if you need to duel to find out who your friends are, then I'm right here." The tone Yusei was using with her was soft and gentle. Keisa had only ever been on the receiving end of that tone, never a spectator. It was a strange feeling.

"Friends? You mean like you signers?" she spat. "From the moment I met you I've had my life completely torn apart thanks to that stupid mark on my arm. And that's no one's fault but your own." Yusei's eyebrows shot up and his jaw went slack.

Oh, no she didn't just…It was all Keisa could do to keep from running across the room and slapping some sense into the woman. She's sick, she kept reminding herself. She needs help. Yusei's gonna help her.

"Akiza, please let us help you," he asked more forcefully.

"You all wanna destroy my life," she all but screeched. "Well I won't let you."

A strange whirlwind swept through the room. Jack kept the two kids standing while Keisa was able to stand with only a little difficulty. The senator and his wife, however, had a little more trouble.

"Akiza," he father called out.

"It looks like there's only one way to protect your family and prove that we're all trying to help you." He snapped on his duel disc, his "game face" on now. "Akiza." His voice dropped a little. "The only time I got through to the real you, was during our duel. So this is for you."

And the duel began.

"Jack," the boy cried. "It's Akiza's first turn and Yusei's already knocked off her feet by Akiza's psychic powers!"

"And I think there's more coming," he agreed.

Keisa let out a breath, studying Yusei from behind for any of the telltale signs that he was faltering.

"If he's trying to help Akiza by winning, he's gotta do better," the girl muttered.

"They're helping each other, really," Keisa muttered.

"I figured as much," Jack replied quietly. "No one takes a fall like that and comes out unscathed."

"Not that you would care, Mr. I-have-a-helicopter-but-I'm-just-gonna-fly-back-to-Neo-Domino," Keisa grumbled sarcastically, tightening her arms around herself.

"What—"

"Not the time," she cut him off.

"But with those four monsters…" Yusei trailed off.

"You catch on quick, Yusei. These four monsters tune up to you. Know. Who."

"Two evil thorns plus what else?" the little boy tried to add up.

"Black merger," the girl suggested.

"Equals Black Rose Dragon," Jack finished for them.

"Please, don't," her father tried to plead.

"You've treated me like a monster so that's who I am—a monster."

"That's not true!" Yusei snapped.

"It's a little late for you to try to help me, Yusei." She laughed humorlessly. "I thought you really believed in me."

"He does," Keisa yelled, unable to control herself any longer. "He does believe in you!"

"Keisa—" Yusei tried.

"He came all the way here from the satellite to _help _you after nearly dying in a duel himself." Jack placed a hand on her shoulder as she took a step towards the duelists.

"Who are _you_? You have no idea!" Akiza cried. "This is all just about my _mark_."


	13. Clash of the Dragons Part 2

**Soo. It's been almost 7 months. Again. I'M SORRY OKAY. THINGS HAPPEN. Last time I updated it was what? Early August? Well, I'm the assistant manager of a community commercial pool so when half our lifeguards quit, I kind of worked a lot. Then school and guard and I turned 21 on Valentine's day and new boyfriend and LIFE REALLY.**

**Anyways, I had this chapter already done (probably for the last 7 months, sorry!) and probably just forgot to upload it. So I'm currently writing the NEXT chapter in the car between classes. So. Expect another update if not today then sometime this weekend…**

**Chapter 14: Clash of the Dragons Part 2**

"Akiza." Yusei stepped up next to where Akiza was sitting on the floor in the arms of her father and deactivated his duel disc. "You and your parents have a lot of catching up to do, but us signers could really use you around, too." She looked up at him with pure emotion all over her face. "Will you fight with us?" he asked. "Will you take a stand alongside your friends?"

"You got it, Yusei," she sighed happily, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Yes!" the kids cheered.

"You see, Akiza? It's just like Yusei said—we're all bound by our marks," the boy exclaimed.

"It's true," Yusei agreed, rolling up his sleeve. "All of us. We share a destiny. So like it or not—we're friends."

Akiza smiled at that. "That's nice, but, I've had friends before and that turn out so well for them." She looked away, ashamed. "I mean, losing people you care about really hurts."

"Yeah, I know exactly how you feel," Yusei sighed. "I ran into an old friend the other day and let's just say he changed."

Keisa scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Depends on who you ask," she muttered, earning a look from Jack. "We all lose people in different ways, but, I don't know—we just have to keep going." Yusei threw a small smile at her.

"I know it's scary to trust new people," Yusei told her, "but I'm asking you to trust me—to call me a friend."

"I'll try," she admitted after a long pause.

"As much as I love all this, I need to talk to you," Keisa interrupted, gesturing to her brother just as Jack's phone began to ring.

"How long have you been here?" the boy looked up at her curiously as Jack turned on his heel and left the room, phone to his ear.

"She's been here the whole time, Leo," the girl sighed.

"My name is Keisa."

"Keisa," Leo tried carefully. "My name is Leo, and this is my sister Luna." He gestured to the pigtailed girl next to him, who smiled softly.

"She's the other signer I told you about," Yusei said.

"No way," Keisa's jaw dropped. He had said she was about Rally's age, but it really hadn't sunk in.

"You're a friend of Yusei's?" Luna asked. "Are you the fifth signer?" Keisa let out a puff of air at having to disappoint this little kid. The look of hope on her face was heartbreaking.

"No, sorry," she explained, "I'm his sister."

"Sister?" Aki stood up with the help of her father. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"Well, the first time Yusei came to Neo Domino was a bit of a special case," Keisa muttered. "Invite only."

"If I remember correctly, he was never invited," Jack called out as he joined them back in the room.

"Depends on how you look at it, former champ," Keisa said smugly, looking away from him.

"Who invited Keisa," Jack asked Yusei. "I remember only inviting you."

"She invited herself," Yusei admitted.

"You know each other?" Leo asked.

Keisa looked up at Jack suspiciously. "I dunno," she started slowly. "How much of your early life do they really know?"

"Keisa." The dense, warning tone in his voice froze her thoughts in their tracks. Forgive and forget. Yeah, yeah.

"We grew up together," she muttered truthfully.

"Really?" Leo and Luna's jaws dropped.

"We can talk about that later," Yusei told them. He turned towards Akiza and her parents. "Why don't you go home with your parents and rest? We can all meet up tomorrow to talk."

"And do we have something to talk about," Jack informed them gravely. "I just got off the phone with my assistant and she has something Akiza should see."

"Me?" The redhead in question stood up a little straighter.

Jack simply nodded. "Like Yusei said, we can talk about it later. I have other business to attend to right now."

"Jack, hold on," Yusei called, but Jack just waved without a second glance and left the large room.

—

Keisa crossed her arms and tried hard not cringe as, on a large screen in front of them, a video of a boy being seemingly electrocuted played. Akiza, on the other hand, could not contain her shock.

"Don't worry," Mina comforted. "He's not in any pain. He's actually _creating _that electrostatic force field with his telekinetic abilities. We found his files in the Arcadia building. Apparently Sayer was a master manipulator who would take in duelists with powers like yours, and depending on their strengths, they would either stay or disappear."

Akiza turned away and grimaced. Yusei glanced at her with a look Keisa rarely ever saw. A desperately worried, helpless look.

"I'm sorry Akiza, I know this must come as a shock after everything you've been through," Mina apologized, gripping the clipboard closer to her chest, "but it looks like Sayer was one of the bad guys. The true purpose of his Arcadia Movement was to create an army of psychic duelists he could use to try and take over the world. You were just another soldier training for the battlefield to fight. It's all in your file."

She flipped around a holographic board where, clearly displayed in the middle, was a picture of the young red-haired woman that Keisa could only assume was Akiza. The scowl was perfectly identical, at least.

Akiza gasped, horrified, and nearly tore the file out of Mina's hands to get a better look. But seconds later, she trust it back in the woman's hands and raced out of the room.

"You can't run from the truth, Akiza," Mina yelled after her desperately. "We need your help!"

Wordlessly, Yusei turned and slowly followed the other signer out of the room. Keisa wasn't sure what to do; follow her brother, or stay put.

"We can't do this without her, Yusei," Mina tried quietly. But the door shut behind her brother before he could respond. Not that Keisa thought he would. She hadn't the slightest clue what he was thinking.

It scared her. She could usually easily predict what her brother would do. But she had never seen this part of him, and maybe he didn't even know what he was going to do. All she knew if that he was following Akiza.

Hopefully he was following her to convince her to help them. Because it looked like they would sure as hell need all the extra help they could get…


	14. The Signs of Time Part 1

**Told you there'd be an update soon. Though, this chapter sucks. But it's getting towards a part I made this story FOR. Dark signers :)**

**Chapter 14 (for real this time): The Signs of Time Part 1**

Somehow, Keisa found herself standing outside of the largest house she had ever seen in person. "This house is huge," she breathed.

"It's practically got its own zip code!" Leo yelled.

The huge doors before them opened with a creek and Goodwin approached them, hands clasped behind his back. A shiver ran up Keisa's spine and she tensed. Something was not right about this man. Not at all. She could feel Yusei's eyes glance at her but she chose to ignore both the bad feeling and her protective brother.

"Thank you all for coming," the man greeted. Mina bowed, but no one else moved. "I've waited a long time for this moment. Four signers standing here, all together. It is with great honor that I welcome you to my home." He bowed grandly and Keisa knew then that he was just blowing smoke up their asses.

She glanced around. If the others thought the same thing, they made no indication. Maybe it was just her Satellite suspicions, her tendency to come up with conspiracies that was making her feel that way. Her brother _did _tend to be the more rational one. Sometimes.

"I'm here to serve you," he continued.

"Right," Jack scoffed. "The only thing _you've _served is a tennis ball."

So she wasn't alone. You could take the man out of the Satellite, but you can't take the Satellite out of the man.

"Jack is right," she heard Akiza, who was standing on Yusei's other side, murmur. "Goodwin's been playing us since the beginning. I mean, he's the one who threatened your friends in the satellite to make you duel in the tournament. All just to see if you were actually a signer."

"He's the—and—he—" Keisa sputtered. She rounded on Yusei. "How can you even _consider _trusting him? He locked us in a box for who knows how long! All for _what?_"

"You're right," Yusei responded slowly. "I can't. But he seems to be the only one who knows what's happening. And with everything at stake, I can't risk not giving him a second chance."

"What if he had hurt us?" Keisa prompted.

"But he didn't," Jack piped in. "If he _had_, I'm positive we wouldn't be standing here right now."

"If Goodwin is the only one who has a plan, I _have _to trust him."

"Well," Akiza sighed. "When you put it like that, I guess you can count me in, ok?"

"Glad to have your support," Yusei murmured. He raised his eyebrows at Keisa, he averted her eyes and crossed her arms in response.

"So why did you invite us here?" Leo demanded, stomping up to the much taller man in front of them fearlessly.

"I don't recall anyone inviting _you _or the girl," he snapped, looking down on Leo with harsh eyes. "You should probably go home now."

Keisa twitched and stepped up behind Leo, narrowly avoiding Yusei's hand trying to pull her back to his side. "Sorry, see, we don't need your approval to stay. You locked _me _and my friends in a cell in the satellite with no proof that we'd done anything wrong. Pretty sure there's a rule against that."

"Keisa," Yusei warned.

"Besides," she continued, ignoring him for once. "I'm _his _sister, and he's _her _brother. _We. Stay. _You've already tried to rip my brother from me once; it's _not _going to happen again."

Goodwin's eyes softened and he sighed. "Very well then." He gestured to the door behind him. "Shall we go inside?"

Without any other words, Jack was the first to follow the older man into the mansion.

"Keisa," Yusei sighed as they began to follow. He reached down and grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She muttered. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Goodwin led them into a dark corridor lit only by small flames along the walls. Keisa studied the strange architecture with suspicious eyes. The further they proceeded down the hall, the darker it seemed to get.

"Where are we going, Mr. Goodwin?" Luna asked timidly.

"To a very special room that holds the answers you seek," he explained.

"Last _I _was here, I was left with more questions than answers," Jack noted sourly. For as much as she was still angry at Jack for what he'd done, she couldn't help but admit she'd missed his pessimism and distrust in others.

"Hm. Funny," Goodwin smirked over his shoulder. "Good to know you didn't lose your sense of humor when you lost your title, Jack."

"Oh, snap," Keisa snickered quietly.

Before Jack could retort, a stone door scraped the floor loudly as it opened and shut them inside. Darkness surrounded them and Keisa instinctually reached out and grabbed a fist of Yusei's jacket.

As their eyes adjusted, a huge stone building towered above them. Stars twinkled overhead and beneath their feet, a familiar red glow etched itself into the earth in careful thin lines.

"What is this place?" Yusei demanded.

"This, my friends, is the Stairway of the Crimson Dragon," Goodwin announced.

"What's that?" Keisa asked, entranced by a circular design above the entrance.

"It looks like all of our signs," Luna noted carefully.

"The Crimson Dragon," Akiza guessed.

"Correct." Goodwin turned to face them. "It is the sign that binds you all and defines you as signers. Protectors of the world."

A gasp from Leo caught Keisa's attention and she glanced at what he was staring at. Luna's sign was glowing through her sleeve, as was Yusei, Akiza, and Jack's. Suddenly, a new red glow lit the place and Keisa looked up to see a huge flaming red dragon wrapped around the tower.

"Look familiar, Jack?" Yusei muttered. He was staring intently up at it, eyes narrowed and faraway.

"What?" Keisa demanded, releasing her hold on her brother.

"Jack and I had a turbo duel in an empty stadium. It was just ourselves, our runners, and our decks. And then, when our dragons attacked each other, _something _appeared," Yusei explained, not once looking at anything but the dragon in front of him.

"Not just _something_," Jack added. "It was the Crimson Dragon."

"Exactly. It had chosen to instill its power in each of you," Goodwin told them. "Influencing your lives until you all met here today."

"What do you mean? The dragon has some sort of control over us?" Yusei snapped, eyes shooting downward to glare at Goodwin.

"Nobody tells _me _what to do," Jack sneered.

"We're well aware of that," Keisa mumbled.

"Then you think this is all a coincidence?" Goodwin challenged. "Leaving the satellite, finding Yusei, and meeting the others? In your hearts you all know that you're destined for something greater. It's the dragon's spirit guiding you."

"But why all of us?" Yusei asked. "Sure, I know we're good with a deck—"

"This goes far beyond your skills as a duelist," Goodwin interrupted, "the Crimson Dragon chose all of you based on the strength in your heart to take on the army of shadows. _This has always been your destiny_."

"Is he telling the truth?" Keisa looked over at Akiza as she whispered to herself. "My destiny?" She felt a pang in her chest when the girl glanced down at her mark and shut her eyes tight.

"All of us are on the same side now," Keisa whispered to her, offering up a small smile when amber eyes met her own.

"She's right," Goodwin agreed. "You all have your own skills but despite your pasts, this is your future."


End file.
